Page 273 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes Puranas and others, for stories for children. The All-India Radio broadcasts devotional music every
morning and, occasionally, harikathas. It also marks the big festivals by special programs which again
draw on the traditional culture of the Hindus. The themes of many films are drawn from the epics,
although “social themes” and romantic stories are not unimportant. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(Dravidian Progressive Federation) writers’ use of films to conduct propaganda against caste and
traditional religion is not without its effects. Tamil films are popular in Mysore, it being common for
them to run for several weeks in the big towns and cities. Occasionally the themes are drawn from
regional history and the lives of regional saints. But whatever the theme— mythological, historical or
social—every film is long, has songs and dances, and comic and romantic interludes. Democratization,
whether through films or the All-India Radio or in popular books and journals, brings about radical
changes in the content of traditional culture. The highbrow and the purist would call it vulgarization,
but what is interesting to note is that it involves an appeal on the one hand to particularistic loyalties
such as region, language, sect and caste, and on the other to the universal attraction of sex, dance and
song.
I discussed earlier how the orthodox elements in Hindu society were put continuously on the defensive
ever since the early years of the nineteenth century when European missionaries began attacking
Hinduism for its many ills and shortcomings. While the new Hindu elite deeply resented such attacks,
they were themselves sufficiently Westernized to be able to take a critical view of their religion. Thus
began a long era of reform of Hindu society and religion, and of reinterpretation of the latter. The
path of the reformers was far from smooth; in fact, they were martyrs to the cause of modernization
of Hindu and Indian society and culture. They and their families had to endure the criticism of
kinsfolk, castefolk and others whose opinions they were sensitive to. Some were even thrown out of
caste. As already noted, the revolutionary changes that have occurred in Hinduism in the last one
hundred fifty years—to which the reformers contributed so significantly—make it very difficult for
Hindus today to understand the difficulties faced by their forbears.
The orthodox elements among the Hindus, the foremost among them being priestly Brahmins (vaidikas),
steadily lost prestige in the face of growing secularization and Westernization of Hindu life and
culture. They were for a long time out of sympathy with, if not entirely critical of, the attempts to
reform Hindu religion and society. Those among the vaidikas who had a reputation for Sanskrit learning
continued to command the respect of the people, but with the institution of Sanskrit teaching in
modern schools and colleges they began to lose their valued monopoly over the language. Sanskrit
learning became open, in theory at least, to everyone irrespective of caste and religion. The development
of the disciplines of comparative philosophy, archaeology, numismatics and history provided a broad
chronological framework for Sanskrit literature, and freed it from much myth and legend. Those
Pandits who did not take note of these new developments began to be regarded as intellectual
anachronisms. And the last few decades have seen the rising prestige of technology, engineering,
medicine and the sciences generally, while the other subjects, the humanities in particular, have lost
much of their prestige. Students with the highest grades seek admission to courses in the prestigious
subjects. Initially, parents were motivated by the economic security and high income available to
doctors and engineers, but now prestige—the student’s as well as the family’s—seems to be equally
important.
The Brahmin priests fought a continuous rearguard action against secularization of the life of lay
(loukika) Brahmins. The Brahmins in Mysore state are among the most urbanized and educated of the
local Hindus. Thanks to their early and great lead in education, they secured a large share of the high
administrative posts, and dominated the professions. As their style of life gradually underwent change,
a conflict arose between them and the priests. Many wore Western clothes, they met people from
many castes and religions in the course of their work, and they did not perform the various daily
rituals as scrupulously as before. Many had their heads cropped, and this went against the Vedic rule
which required them to keep the shikha (a long tuft of hair at the top of the skull) just as the habit of
the daily shave violated certain other rules. These deviations—along with the tendency to drop the
painting of caste marks on the forehead, and to sit down to meals in secular clothes—drew the wrath
of the priests. Even more serious were violations of the rules regarding food and drink, and the
marrying of girls after they had attained puberty The people who did these things had power and

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