Understanding hegemony of sanskritisation as both the form and formation of identity with special reference to Sabarimala

Culture and religion are major elements of a nationalist ideology and narrate the cultural myths that create cultural and national identity and allocate social and political power. In India, Hindu nationalism and its influence on the alienation of lower castes, tribes and other religious minorities are contemporary reflections of social reality. Hinduism dominates the Indian social and political systems and brings with it its caste system. Thus higher-caste Hindus view the indigenous people as Adivasis, of lower castes-untouchables. Since the language of Hinduism is Sanskrit, this situation leads to what is called 'sanskritisation'. Sanskritisation is defined as the imposition of Hindu belief and culture upon historically non-Hindu groups. Sanskritization has played as a key role in this mythmaking process for the nationalist ideology by merging Hindu identity with Indian national identity. For indigenous peoples, it means that to be part of India, they have to adopt Hinduism. Numerous studies have attempted to demonstrate how sanskritisation has impacted on social change among non-Hindu minorities and particularly among indigenous groups. The hegemonic nature of sanskritisation is a dominant mechanism used to construct a caste-based society in India. This essay is an attempt to elucidate the concept of sanskritisation in a religious context as both the form and formation of identity with special reference to the South Indian temple of Sabarimala. This is the peer reviewed essay based on the submission of the second term essay at University of Sussex in 2018.