Cultural Change

2.1 Core concepts

Building on Chapter 1's structural change — industrialisation, urbanisation, the new mode of production introduced under colonialism — the focus here is the parallel cultural change brought about by these processes. Sociologists define social structure as "a continuing arrangement of persons in relationships defined or controlled by institutions" and culture as "socially established norms or patterns of behaviour" (NCERT §Intro, p. 16). Cultural change refers to changes in norms, values, fashions, language, body language, and ideologies. Two intertwined outcomes of colonial impact stand out: deliberate 19th-century reform efforts on the one hand, and four less deliberate processes — sanskritisation, modernisation, secularisation, westernisation — on the other. Of these four, sanskritisation pre-dates colonialism; the other three are complex responses to colonial rule.

The 19th-century social reform movements (§2.1) arose against social evils like sati, child marriage, the ban on widow remarriage, and caste discrimination. Reformers combined modern western liberal ideas with a fresh look at traditional literature; they did not simply import European ideas but read shastras and hadith to recover counter-arguments from within their own traditions. Raja Ram Mohun Roy attacked sati using both humanitarian/natural-rights doctrines and Hindu shastras; Ranade wrote The Texts of the Hindu Law on the Lawfulness of the Remarriage of Widows; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan emphasised free enquiry (ijtihad); Kandukiri Viresalingam wrote The Sources of Knowledge and translated Julius Huxley (NCERT Box 2.1, p. 17). Sociologist Satish Saberwal identifies three aspects of the modern framework: modes of communication, forms of organisation, the nature of ideas (NCERT §2.1, p. 17). New technologies — printing press, telegraph, microphone, steamship, railways — sped up the exchange of ideas; Keshav Chandra Sen visited Madras in 1864; Pandita Ramabai travelled widely. Modern social organisations like Brahmo Samaj (Bengal), Arya Samaj (Punjab), and the All-India Muslim Ladies Conference (Anjuman-E-Khawatn-E-Islam, 1914) were founded (NCERT §2.1, p. 17). Jotiba Phule opened the first school for women in Pune; Phule recalled the glory of the pre-Aryan age, while Bal Gangadhar Tilak emphasised the Aryan period (NCERT §2.1, p. 18). Jahanara Shah Nawas proposed a resolution against polygamy at the All India Muslim Ladies Conference; Tahsib-e-Niswan, a leading Punjab women's journal, supported it (NCERT §2.1, p. 19). Orthodox Hindus in Bengal formed the Dharma Sabha and petitioned the British, arguing that reformers had no right to interpret sacred texts (NCERT §2.1, p. 19) — this is a counter-movement, not a reform body.

Sanskritisation (§2.3) — coined by M.N. Srinivas — is "the process by which a 'low' caste or tribe or other group changes its customs, ritual, ideology, and way of life in the direction of a high, and frequently, 'twice-born' (dwija) caste" (NCERT §2.3, p. 20). Where non-Sanskritic castes were dominant in a region, the reverse process — de-Sanskritisation — operated; in Punjab, Persian influence dominated until the third quarter of the 19th century. Srinivas argued that sanskritisation usually improves a group's position in the local caste hierarchy and presupposes either economic/political improvement or sustained contact with the 'Great Tradition' — a pilgrim centre, a monastery, or a proselytising sect (NCERT §2.3, p. 21). Kumud Pawade, a Dalit Sanskrit teacher, illustrates the obstacles low castes faced when adopting upper-caste customs (NCERT §2.3, p. 21). There are five criticisms of sanskritisation: (1) it exaggerates social mobility — sanskritisation produces only positional, not structural, change; (2) it accepts upper-caste ways as superior and lower-caste ways as inferior; (3) it justifies a model resting on inequality and exclusion (purity-pollution); (4) it leads to the seclusion of women, dowry instead of bride-price, and the spread of caste discrimination to groups that did not earlier practise it; (5) it erodes Dalit culture and devalues their labour and knowledge (NCERT §2.3, p. 22).

Westernisation (§2.3) — Srinivas defines it as "the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule," covering technology, institutions, ideology, and values. There are two kinds: (i) the emergence of a westernised sub-cultural pattern among intellectuals — anglicised lifestyles, English-medium education, western dress and dining; (ii) the general spread of western traits like television, refrigerator, sofa, dining table (NCERT §2.3, pp. 22–23). Westernisation involves the imitation of external forms and "does not necessarily mean that people adopt modern values of democracy and equality" (NCERT §2.3, p. 23). Indian artists like Ravi Varma, Abanindranath Tagore, Chandu Menon, Bankimchandra Chattopadhya grappled with the colonial encounter; Ravi Varma's 1870 portrait of Kizhakke Palat Krishna Menon's family blended western perspective and illusionism with Indian elements (NCERT Box 2.2, p. 24). Srinivas suggested that 'lower castes' sought sanskritisation while 'upper castes' sought westernisation — but the Thiyyas in Kerala (not upper caste) consciously westernised to critique caste, showing that this generalisation is "difficult to maintain" in a diverse country (NCERT §2.3, p. 24).

Modernisation (§2.3) — Rudolph and Rudolph characterise modernity as a cluster of attributes: local/parochial ties give way to universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes; utility, calculation and science precede emotion, the sacred and the non-rational; the individual becomes the primary unit of society; associations are based on choice not birth; mastery replaces fatalism; identity is chosen and achieved, not ascribed; and work is separated from family in bureaucratic organisation (NCERT §2.3, p. 26). Modernisation and westernisation are not the same thing — a person can wear western clothes (westernised) yet hold conservative, non-egalitarian views (not modern); and conversely a person can dress traditionally yet hold egalitarian values.

Secularisation (§2.3) — in the modern west, the term usually means "a process of decline in the influence of religion." Sociologists track this through three indicators: people's involvement with religious organisations (e.g., church attendance), the social and material influence of religious organisations, and the degree to which people hold religious beliefs (NCERT §2.3, p. 27). Secularisation in India does not simply replicate the western pattern. Rituals in India often have secular dimensions — occasions for socialising, displaying wealth, and indexing household standing; cars at weddings and VIPs in attendance are markers of social status. Rajni Kothari (1977) introduces the idea of the secularisation of caste: in traditional India caste operated within a religious framework of purity and pollution; today it functions in the political arena as political pressure groups, caste associations, and caste-based parties — caste persists but its mode of operation has shifted from the sacred to the secular-political (NCERT §2.3, p. 27; Box 2.5, p. 28).

Taken together, the four processes — sanskritisation, westernisation, modernisation and secularisation — are best understood as overlapping responses to the long colonial encounter and its post-Independence aftermath. Sanskritisation existed long before colonialism but acquired new visibility because colonial censuses began to record caste rank and because emerging Dalit/non-Brahmin movements challenged the upper-caste reference model from below. Westernisation introduced new technologies, institutions and lifestyles but did not automatically carry democratic values. Modernisation, in Rudolph and Rudolph's sense, is the deeper attitudinal shift — universalism, achievement, individualism, mastery — that may or may not accompany the visible markers of westernisation. Secularisation, in its Indian form, names not a vanishing of religion but a shift in the way old institutions (especially caste) operate in the new public sphere of mass democracy. CUET items reward students who can keep these four processes analytically separate while also recognising that in practice they intersect — a westernised family may sanskritise its rituals to claim higher caste rank while voting for caste-based political parties that exemplify the secularisation of caste.

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Photographs of social reformers on p. 16 (Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Pandita Ramabai, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan) and p. 18 (Viresalingam, Vidyasagar, Jotiba Phule).
• Saberwal's three aspects of the modern framework (p. 17): modes of communication → forms of organisation → nature of ideas.
• Five-point criticism of sanskritisation (p. 22): positional-not-structural change → accepts upper caste superiority → justifies inequality → leads to gender oppression/dowry → erodes Dalit culture.
• Ravi Varma's 1870 portrait of the Krishna Menon family (Box 2.2, p. 24) — illustrates western technique (oil, perspective, illusionism) in a matrilineal Nayar context.
• Rudolph & Rudolph's seven attributes of modernity (p. 26): universalism, cosmopolitanism, calculation, individualism, choice-based associations, mastery, achieved identity.
• The reformer-cause matching ladder: Ram Mohun Roy → sati; Ranade → widow remarriage; Phule → women's education; Sir Syed → ijtihad; Viresalingam → Telugu translations.
• The Srinivas–Thiyya counter-example (p. 24): the generalisation "lower castes Sanskritise, upper castes Westernise" breaks down because the Thiyyas were not upper caste yet westernised.

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• Westernisation ≠ Modernisation. A person can wear western clothes (westernised) yet hold conservative/non-egalitarian views (not modern). NCERT explicitly says westernisation "does not necessarily mean people adopt modern values of democracy and equality" (p. 23).
• Sanskritisation was coined by M.N. Srinivas, not Satish Saberwal. Saberwal gave the three aspects of the modern framework.
• Sanskritisation pre-dates colonialism; the other three processes are responses to colonial rule (p. 16).
• Dharma Sabha opposed reform (it defended sacred texts against reformers) — students confuse it with a reform body.
• Thiyyas of Kerala are a counter-example to Srinivas's generalisation that only upper castes westernised.
• Sanskritisation leads to positional, not structural, change — inequality persists.
• "Secularisation of caste" in Kothari does NOT mean caste disappears — it means caste functions through politics instead of through purity/pollution.
• Rudolph & Rudolph are associated with the seven attributes of modernity; do not confuse them with Srinivas (sanskritisation/westernisation) or Kothari (secularisation of caste).
• Anjuman-E-Khawatn-E-Islam was founded in 1914, not 1924 or 1940; common NTA date trap.

2.5 Thinkers / theories table