Knowra Sanskritization Sanskritization Sanskritization is the adoption of Sanskrit language, religious practices, and cultural forms by groups seeking higher social status or political legitimacy. The term also names a specific sociological theory of caste mobility in India.
M. N. Srinivas : Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas was an Indian sociologist who developed the concept of Sanskritization. He coined the term to describe observed changes in caste relations.
Coorgs : The Coorgs are an ethnolinguistic community of Kodagu in southwestern India, studied by M. N. Srinivas. Srinivas's research on Coorg religious life helped shape his account of Sanskritization.
Westernization : Westernization is the adoption of institutions, technologies, or cultural practices associated with Western societies. Srinivas distinguished this outward-looking change from emulation of high-status Indian practices.
Caste system in India : The caste system in India is a historically varied system of social grouping and hierarchy shaped by birth, occupation, and local relations. Sanskritization operates within caste hierarchies without necessarily abolishing them.
Gender and caste in India : Gender and caste in India describes the ways caste relations shape gender roles, labor, sexuality, and social power. Gendered control and labor complicate accounts of status change focused on male group leaders.
Dominant caste : A dominant caste is a locally influential caste whose power rests on factors such as landownership, numbers, and political influence. Its customs can become models for groups seeking greater local status.
Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India : A 1952 ethnography by M. N. Srinivas examining religion and social organization among the Coorgs. This study presented the fieldwork from which Srinivas developed the concept.
Little tradition : A little tradition is a local, orally transmitted cultural system in Robert Redfield's model of a civilization. Sanskritization highlights transformations between local practices and wider, prestigious traditions.
Caste discrimination : Caste discrimination is unequal treatment or exclusion based on caste identity or inherited status. Higher-status practices do not by themselves end discrimination against a group.
Caste politics in India : Caste politics in India is political organization and competition shaped by caste identities and interests. Electoral power can reshape status independently of Sanskritizing cultural practices.
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