The Other Sanskritization
Eminent sociologist Professor M.N. Srinivas coined the term "Sanskritization" to describe the cultural mobility in the traditional caste structure of Indian society. To raise their status in the traditional hierarchy of society, lower castes imitated the ways of the upper castes and in the process, quit some of their "impure" ways to assimilate well. This assimilation continued throughout. During the British rule, several reform movements took place. When the reigns of these movements fell into the hands of the lower caste leaders, they questioned the need for the lower castes to imitate the ways of upper castes and rightly so. By blindly aping the ways of the upper rungs of the society, you also acknowledge their justification for being the upper class in the first place. I believe readers would agree with me here for the most part. Now that we have these ideas on the table, let's move to what's called westernization. With the advent of Europeans in ...