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Professor M N Srinivas defines Sanskritisation as follows ;

A low caste was able, in a generation or two, to rise to a higher position in the hierarchy by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism. and by Sanskritising its ritual and pantheon . . .

— ( "Re l ig ion and Society among the Coorgs of South I n d i a " , Oxford, 1952, p 30 and 'A Note on Sanskritisation and Westernisation". Far Eastern Quar ter ly , Vol xv, No 4 ) .

The aim of the present note is to examine its implications in terms of its applicability to the Hindu society of the North-West of India.

BY the H i n d u society of Nor th-West of Ind ia is meant the H i n ­

dus of Panjab and what was known as the Nor th Western Frontier Pro­vince. The latter as also a large part of the former are now included in West Pakistan. The M a j o r i t y of the Hindus of these areas are settled in Ind ian Panjab. Delhi and Western U P. The rest have spread a l l over the country .

As in other parts of the country, here also we have to take note of the t w i n processes of Sanskrit isation and Westernisation and examine their inter-relat ionship. The first t h ing to note is the historic fact of the rela­tive weakness of the B r a h m i n in­fluence in this region. Ever since the large-scale conversions of the artisans, craftsmen and peasants to Islam, the Hindus l i v ing in these areas have been relatively few in number and instead of exercising domina t ing influence on the Mus l ims , they have themselves been influenced by the latter. As p roof thereof may be noted the relative scarcity of temples in these parts, the non-exis-tence of Brahmins well-versed in the Shastras (except in Jammu and other Hindu- ru led H i l l States), the total absence of any Sanskrit schools t i l l very recently and the relative l ax i ty in the enforcement of prohi­bi t ions regarding outing, etc.

Deep Influence of Islam

The H i n d u of the North-West was a H i n d u because he d i d not eat beef (and dared not eat p o r k ) , d id not practise c i rcumcis ion, d i d not have his moustache shaved in the middle , d i d sometimes manage to keep a shikha, d i d not l ike to eat w i t h the Mus l ims ( though he d id exchange uncooked cereals on festive occa­sions), d i d not ask his women to wear the burqa ( though in over­whe lming ly M u s l i m areas. H i n d u women had to cover themselves in

p u b l i c ) , d id t ry to go to some tirtha if he got the chance, had his sons and daughters marr ied before Agni wi th a B r a h m i n conducting the cere­mony and cremated his dead (ex­cepting the chi ldren, who were b u r i e d ) . But he ate meat, onions and tomatoes, relished eggs and ate his stuff even in the bazar, generally put on the sacred thread only at the time of marr iage, recited no mantra (save Rama-nama), knew no San­skrit and sent his chi ldren to the local Madrassa run by a M a u l v i .

In the sphere of re l ig ion , he was deeply influenced by Is lam, especial-ly by the teachings of Sufi Saints1. Some Sufi Saints have had a tremen­dous influence on the non-Muslims, and quite a number of conversions to Is lam can be traced to them. In so far as his past was concerned, the H indu knew the stories of Rama and Kr ishna , and also knew something about the Vedas, Upanishads, etc. This may sound l i t t le in terms of intellectual equipment. It may be added here that this is al l that he had inheri ted in terms of Sanskrhisa-l ion t i l l about a century ago (The Br i t i sh annexed the Punjab in 1852) . But another source was at his dis­posal, namely the teachings of the Sikh Gurus. When we excluded from our survey the Hindus of Sindh. it was because they f o l l o w the Sikh tenets, though they do not keep long hair and a beard, and do not abstain f r o m smoking. The

In the sphere of culture, this region also forms part of an area extending as far as Tran-Azerbaidjan on the one hand and Afghanistan-Tajikistan on the other. The people, therefore, have a great deal in common with what can be called Muslim areas, where Persian, Tunkish and Arabic influences have intermingled in the past. The British cut it off from the rest on political grounds but the similarities in question have proved to be too deeply rooted.

Hindus of Sindh cannot, therefore, be considered to be open to the in ­fluence of Sanskri t isat ion. The H o l y Grantha of the Sikhs is a collection of hymns composed by various saints in the Midd l e Ages and includes the poetry of Namadeva, K a b i r and others on the one hand, and that of the Sufi saints l ike Far id on the other. Needless to say that the rest is that of the Sikh Gurus themselves. Therefore, the language of the larger part is Punjabi .

And of Sikhism

In the domain of r i tua l , the oppo­sition of the Sikh Gurus to Sanskrit r i tua l was total and they evolved a s impl i f i ed one of their own in Pan-j ab i . We may, therefore, conclude that among the Hindus of Sindh as also among the Sikhs of Panjab and N W F P. there has been l i t t le or no need for Sanskrit isation. either in the sp i r i tua l domain or in that of r i t ua l .

By way of intellectual equipment, the Ho ly Granth and related li tera­ture offered the best that has been produced by the Nor th - Ind ian poet-saints d u r i n g the M i d d l e Ages as also a good deal of what had been handed down by M u s l i m Sufis, a large part whereof in Pan j a b i .

A l though the Hindus and Sikhs of Panjab, specially in the urban areas, today look l ike getting away from each other, this should not lead us to view the Panjab Hindus as a separate social group, especially in the ru ra l areas The separation is ga in ing strength on ly now. but even today many H i n d u families baptize their first son as a Sikh and some­times a S ikh father may have some children brought up as Sikhs and the rest as Hindus (and vice versa). Therefore despite the apparent polarisation of today, a large section of the Panjab Hindus have had the H o l y Grantha and al l ied l i terature as their sacred texts. The i r r i t ua l

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needs on occasions such as baptism, marriage, death, etc.. have been fu l ­filled In a s implif ied system con­ducted in Panjabi.

Scripture in Mother Tongue

The Brahmins of Panjab. except in certain arras, have also been un­der this very influence. In some of the Sikh major i ty areas under Sikh rulers, ( Patiala. Nabha. Jind). one comes across S ikh Brahmins, i e, persons wearing long hair and tur­bans. going to the Gurudwara hut who are endogamous. Therefore the very group which could have helped Brahminize. Sanskritise the Hindu masses, was in no posit ion to do so. We may. therefore, observe that even a large section of the H i n ­dus of the Panjab. specially those l i v ing in rura l areas and small towns have been under the influence of a rel igion, which had Panjabi and not Sanskrit as its language. This body of religious l i terature, (the term re­l igion and its derivatives are to be taken in a broad sense and should include both the r i tua l and the moral aspect), has been at the disposal of the non-Muslim Panjabis for over three centuries.

Therefore whenever any group of people l i v i n g in this region has felt the need for any ameliorat ion in its social status, it has always sought guidance in the scriptures available to it in its own language". We have also to observe that these non-Mus­lims d i d not have a large number of lower castes among them.2 as the lower castes had been converted ear­lier to Islam. Therefore, the pro-

2 In strut objectivity, we should state that along with this literature of the Sikhs, some. 'Hindu literature has also hern available. For example Panjabi translations of the Gita and certain other texts used to he the common heritage of both Hindus and Sikhs. This was symbolised by the same building housing both the idols and the Grantha. It was railed the Dharam-sal ( Dharma-shala ).

3 We have left out not only the Chris­tians, a very small group, but also the Jains, a small but cohesive com­munity, which was to be found in Rawalpindi. Sialkot, Gujiranwala, Lahore and other towns. Though lead­ing an isolated life in respect of marriage, its members did exert some influence on their neighbours and friends in so far as abstention from meat, eggs, onions, tomatoes, etc., was concerned.

blem of social up l i f t for a lower caste was not comparable in its scope and magnitude to that in other parts of India . The Hindus and Sikhs consisted mostly of the com­mercial classes and in certain areas, e g Pothohar, Sialkot and Gurdas-pur, they were peasants also. The pattern of the newly-settled canal-i r r igated areas of Lyallpur and Montgomery followed the pattern of the villages in the distr ict of o r i ­g in in ( what is now) Indian Pan­j ah . These commercial men and peasants d id not feel the need to fol­low or imitate the Brahmins. The latter among them also d id not have much to show. In the social set-up they were not the leaders and nor was economic power in their hands.4

Social uplift It w i l l not he correct to say. how­

ever, that no social group, no com­muni ty felt the need for social up­l i f t at a l l . Despite the. equality granted by Sikh scriptures to a l l , irrespective of Trades-castes, cer­ta in communit ies were looked down upon because of the occupa­t ion followed by them. For exam­ple, the Abluwalias had a very low-social status as they engaged in the d is t i l la t ion and sale of l iquor . The i r professional name was Kalal. There is a popular saying, given me by an Ahluwalia f r iend, which stresses the need to hew are of a crow (kan). a Kalal and a dog (ku t ta ) , even when they are asleep. They got the chance to improve their social status, when one of their castes was able to carve out the state of Kapur tha la for h i m ­self. The entire communi ty then laid claim to the t i t le of Kshatriyas and set up the " A l l Ind ia Ahluwal ia K h a h i Mahasabba", But as the pr incely house of Kapur tha l a was Sikh, the need for discont inuing the former trade and engaging in other professions, was felt as a conse­quence of the teaching of S ikh scri­ptures in Panjahi. It may he observed, en passant, that for pur­poses of marriage, this communi ty has been endogamous.

Though there were not many low easte people among the non-Muslims in Panjah as a whole., there are cer­tain communities in the Ind i an Pan­jab. which are "low-caste". These

4 In Panjabi the word Pandat (Pandit) denotes a Brahmin and may connote some respect for the latter. But the word Bahman (Brahmin) almost al­ways carries a little contempt.

are p r inc ipa l ly the landless vi l lage-labourers known as " k a m i n " or work-man. They are untouchables and are so recognised in our Con­st i tut ion. The major i ty fo l low the Sikh faith and they are popular ly called the Majhabis. In the social sphere, they also seek insp i ra t ion f rom Sikh scriptures.

Sikh and Hindu Rumgarhis A few words may be said here

regarding certain professional cas­tes. We wish to refer here, parti­cu la r ly to the Hamgarhis commu­ni ty. This communi ty furnishes most of the masons, carpenters, die-men, founders. turners, motor-me­chanics, etc of the Panjab. Many among them are under the influence of the S ikh re l ig ion, notably of one of its reformist sects, the Nama-dharis. The latter are, so to say. the "puritans" of the province. For instance they must wash their long hair every day f i n winter it is quite cold in the Pan jab) , abstain from in toxica t ing d r inks and meat and are promise-bound not to steal, not to tell lies, to protect the cow, etc. They derive their inspirat ion for these acts of fa i th , not f r o m Sanskrit scriptures, but f rom the H o l y Grantha in Panjabi . Another communi ty of masons, carpenters etc which has not come under the influence of Sikh rel igion, now calls itself the descendants of Vishva-karma, the d ivine carpenter and some of them affix the t i t le . "Pan-dat" before their names. A m o n g such people Sanskrit isation can be said to have had effect. This com­muni ty maintains temples dedicated to Visvakarma.

Of course in so far as the u l t i ­mate source of the sp i r i tua l values of S ikh re l ig ion is concerned, it can be traced to the Upanishads through the Vedanta. To this extent, it may also be included w i t h i n the term, Sanskri t isat ion. But i f the consci­ousness of the people is the vast ma jo r i ty of the people, however, they are not conscious to this day of this ul t imate source.''

. At an earlier date, upto the time of Guru Gobindsingh and later, the atti­tude towards Sanskrit had been dif­ferent. This Guru had sent some of his disciples to Kashi to learn Sans­krit. A new feature of the present times is the growing awareness of the scholars of Panjabi, mostly Sikhs, of the need to learn Sanskrit to fur­ther research in Panjabi language and literature.

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Agrawal Community

As our subject is Sanskri t isat ion, let us discuss the case of the Agra-wal communi ty of the Panjab. This communi ty , spread all over the re­gion, can be d ivided into two sec­tions, the Hindi-speaking and the Punjabi-speaking. The former hai l mostly f rom the area of Hissar-Hans i -Bhiwani -Riwar i of Ind i an Panjab. border ing on the Bajasthau Desert. Inspite of having l ived con­tinuously in the Panjabi-speaking area for several generations, they have always kept themselves in touch w i t h the parent-area. They marr ied only among the H i n d i -speaking Agrawals and were quite conservative even as regards inter-d i n i n g . In consequence of having tome f rom a H i d u - m a j o r i t y area, this section of the communi ty was largely under the influence- of San-skri t ic Shastras and have been quite active in the movement of the Sana-tan Dharma Sabha. referred to be­low. But in this case. Sanskrit in ­fluence was impor ted along wi th the communi ty itself.

The Panjabi-speaking o u t o f this communi ty is also engaged in trade and commerce and has the same gotras. But p robably they migrat­ed earlier and had been cut off f rom their parent-area. In consequence they are completely Panjabi-speak­i n g ; marriages are arranged only wi th the Panjabi-speaking Agra ­wals. In in te r -d in ing , however, they are much less strict than the other Agrawals. They are also attached to Sanskrit r i t ua l , though to a les-MT extent. Many among them look to l ibera l professions and be­came leaders of the A r y a Samaj. But those who remained in trade and commerce, by and large, lent support to the Sanatan Dharma Sabha and thus helped spread the influence of Sanskri t isat ion. Though Panjabi-speaking, they never came under Panjabi-influence in matters of re l igion. 6

Arya Samaj and Sanatan Dharma W i t h the advent of the Br i t i sh

rule in the Panjab started a new-era, which brought in the Western mode of education to the Panjab on

6 As regards the desire of the various social groups to claim a higher sta­tus for themselves, it may he noted that it the Mahajans and Soods call themselves Guptas (the Agrawals deny this claim)', the Agrawals claim to he Kshatriyas, descended from Ugra-sena, father of Kamsa of Mathura.

a large scale. Here along w i t h English. other languages inc lud ing Sanskrit . Arab ic and Persian also began to be taught in schools and colleges. In course of t ime, faci­lities for prosecuting studies in these subjects upto the M . A . and beyond were provided. These steps were well received by the urban H i n d u and M u s l i m , who were becoming conscious of the need of defending their past before the onslaught of the Western way of l i fe . In the social sphere, the Arya Samaj and certain M u s l i m organisations propa­gated the need for a revival of an­cient learning, and the study of classical languages. Sanskrit . Arabic arid Persian, received a great im­petus f rom such movements.

Now if the A r y a Samaj was large­ly a movement of reaction against I s lam and Chris t iani ty . a new move­ment arose in these parts as a direct reaction to unceasing and intempe­rate attacks of the Arya Samaj on the Sanatana. the ancient values of the H i n d u r e l ig ion . Its organisa­t ion was called the Sanatan Dharma Sabha.

Whi l e defending the values of both the Sruti and Smriti against the unique Sruti values of the A r y a Samaj, the Sanatan Dharmis also had to f ind an answer to the chal­lenge posed by Western c iv i l i sa t ion . And l ike the A r y a Samajis. they also sought it in a revival of Sanskrit learning. Thus it is that we find a chain of D A V (Davanand Anglo-Vedic) schools and colleges and S D (Sanatan Dharma) schools and col­leges established in this area, where­in the study of Sanskrit was sought to be encouraged.

Some of the leaders of A r y a Samaj. however, found tin's type of college-education inadequate, and pleaded, fo l lowing the teachings of their Guru , for the establishment of Gurukuls, where the method of an­cient teachings was to be fol lowed. The Rishikuls established by the Sanatan Dharmis were a counter-move and some of them sti l l exist. The basic difference is the. exclusive emphasis on Vedic l i terature in the former, and on both the Sruti and Smriti l i terature in the latter. A l o n g w i t h these steps, the Dharma-pra-chara of both the organisations led to an increasing awareness of an­cient values among the Hindus of this areas. In so far as the A r y a Samajis la id exclusive stress on the vedic values ( i n both r i tual and

4 1 1

m o r a l i t y ) , it may not be quite rele­vant to include (heir work w i th in the present note.

Movement of Sanskritisation However, the increasing aware­

ness of ancient Sanskrit ic values d id lead to a broad movement of "Sanskr i t i sa t ion" among the mid ­dle class Hindus.

The influence of movements l ike the Brahmo Samaja as also the part played by Brahmin scholars coming f rom other areas of Ind ia to help the two movements, is not being discussed here. If the Cen­sus Reports f rom the end of the nineteenth century onwards are analysed, it w i l l be seen that the number of Guptas. Varmas and Sharmas has increased wi th the passage of t ime. This is. most pro­bably. due to a revival of interest in Smriti l i terature, in which the members of the first three varnas have Sharma. Yarma and Gupta res­pectively at the end of these names. This is but one example. r inse reports as also the voters" lists w i l l also show an increasing tendency towards the sanskril isation of names among the Hindus l a n d of Persia-nisation and Arabisat ion among the M u s l i m s . leading to the replace­ment of Panjabi names l ike Guran-i l i t ta and Ramrakkha by names l ike Rakesh. Manmohan and others in the space of two to three gene­rations.

In so far as r i t ua l is concerned, it led to the establishment and the enlargement of temples, in urban areas. Large temples to various gods were bui l t and the need for priests was in part filled by recruit­ing Brahmins from U P Garhwal am) elsewhere. Aga in , ceremonies l ike the celebration of Shraddhas began in a number of famil ies w i th Sanskr i t -knowing Brahmins per­fo rming the rites. It w i l l , there­fore, be clear that whatever Sans­k r i l i s a t i on came to the Panjab in this manner, it was not due to the leadership of the Brahmins. It is curious that out of the ten to twelve Sanskrit scholars produced by Pan­jab over the last fifty years. none has been a Brahmin .

We have already referred to the impact of the West on the revival of Sanskrit learning in the Panjab. We may now consider the influence of more advanced provinces l ike Bengal and Maharashtra in this res­pect. The latter had come into con­tact wi th the West earlier, had seen

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a revival of Sanskrit learning ear­l ier , and were, towards the begin­n ing of the twentieth century, taking a leading par t in the national move­ment, which could not help being a movement for cu l tu ra l revival as well . The ideas that took shape in the sphere of cul ture in such places were those found in Sanskrit lite­rature. Being conceived and given shape by people very much aware of Western values, these ideas also slowly made their way into the Panjab and led to a revival of in­terest in ancient Ind ian culture. The Upanishads in translation and s imi­lar other texts now carne into vogue. One feature of this trend lay in its being accepted by the educated H i n d u in genera l

To sum u p : Sanskri t isat ion in the area under discussion, can be said to have come into being under the impact of alien rule, in part i n ­di rect ly . It was not due to a desire of any social group to imitate the Brahmins who, by and large, held no leading posit ion. Since the low castes, mostly untouchables, were already beyond the pale of H i n d u rel igion, there was no general de­sire on their part to imitate the Brahmins in matters of r i t u a l . As regards the Agrawals practising Sanskrit values, their attachment tame w i t h them f rom their place of o r ig in .

This becomes understandable if we remember that cu l tu ra l ly San­skrit influence has been but one of tin- trends and at times it could not have become the main trend. For a few centuries t i l l the t h i r d quarter of the nineteenth century Persian influence had been the dominat ing one in this area. (However, Jyoti-sha and Ayurveda seem to have been fairly prevalent d u r i n g all these centuries.)

Western Influences

Western influences had started coming into the Punjab even before die Br i t i sh conquest in 1852. Ma­haraja Ranjit Singh had a number of European soldiers and physicians. The missionaries had started coming earlier and a school r u n by them was established in Lahore early in die nineteenth century. ( I t later devloped into the Forman Chris­tian College). The influence of these visi tors has proved to be long lasting.

However, the process started in right earnest in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and has con­

tinued since then, experiencing cer­tain ups and downs. Since the press the cinema and the radio have played their part in this process, they should be kept in mind along wi th the in­creased and increasing communica­t ion between the various parts of the country by rai l and road. We should note that this area received relativelv greater attention in this respect because of its strategic im­portance to the alien rulers of Ind ia . Another point to note here is the relatively large number of persons belonging to the middle class in this region. This was not due to larger pub l ic service or more industry, hut to the presence of a sturdy peasant communi ty owning their land and making a good l i v ing out of it as also to that of a prosperous mer­canti le communi ty . The decision of the Br i t i sh to b r i n g perennial i r r i ­gation by means of a vast network of canals, gave further impetus to this communi ty and to trade, com­merce and industry associated there­w i t h .

The first channel of Western in-fluence. it w i l l not be incorrect to say. was the legal profession. More­over. as the best way of getting to the top of society was by mix ing w i t h the Bri t i sh officials, the West­ern mode of life came into vogue. The colleges started earlier (the Panjab Univers i ty was founded about 1885). imparted education along western lines and thus turned out young men l a n d women) who had read Shelley and Shakespeare, Dickens and Thackeray. The Caw College and the Medical College were soon added, and to surmount the difficulty of long distances (Peshawar was w i t h i n the jur i sd ic­t ion of the Univers i ty at Lahore) , post-graduate classes were started at Peshawar and at Rawa lp ind i . The various communities feeling the need for their own colleges, spread a net-work of denominational insti­tutions like the D A V. the S D the Khalsa and the Islamia colleges. The only no n-denominational col­lege. Dyal Singh College was start ed. thanks to the munificience of S Dyal Singh Ma j i t h i a . an aristocrat, who had become a Brahmo. (The Pan jab owes to this great and gene­rous man its only English dai ly newspaper, a public l i b r a ry and a few other ins t i tu t ions) . In this way the province acquired a number of institutions along w i th a number started by the Government.

This trend towards Western ia -t ion, at least in externals, was quite strong before the National move­ment had become really powerful . It was common to see young men i; colleges, sport ing troupers, coats and ties, though not sola topees. This tendency towards the. adoption of Western dress was being kept in check mainly because of the strong hold of t radi t ion and active propa­ganda by revivalist organisations of the various communities. But the first real check came in when Gan-d h i j i came on the scene and elec­t r i f ied the country by his appeal to Swadeshi. Westernisation even in externals received a strong set-back. Gandhi j i called for a bonfire of all foreign cloth and apparel . Several families discarded western dress for good, and the neck-tie became a symbol of servitude. The increasing tempo of the Freedom movement kept this tendency in check right upto 1947.

Impact of the National Movement

The Western system of educa-t ion . however, had come to stay-. and though externals l ike the neck-tic were no longer popular, its im­pact began to be felt in another direct ion. If the influence of the magnetic personality of Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose was moving mil l ions of youths, it has to be remembered that they were the products of England and mo­dern European culture.

In the poli t ical sphere the advocacy of Socialism by these younger leaders, their identif ication of India 's cause wi th the struggled of other oppressed peoples (as those of Abyssinia. Spa in ) , made people aware of the fu t i l i t y of many prohibi t ions ordained in the nam-of the Sinistras. Thus in 1932, Gandhi j i went to London for the Round Table Conference and wa-accompanied. among others, by Pandit Madau Mohan Malv iya . who for the sake of pur i ty , took pots of Ganges water wi th h im. But Hindu op in ion was no longer in a mood to consider Gandhi j i a lesser H indu on that account. As far as I rem­ember, the last person to perform a prayaschitra for going to England was a Raj Bahadur.

Such an alt i tude towards r i tua l nun have been helped by the fact that Sanskritisation had that time. struck deep roots. Be­sides the orthodoxy due to this pro­cess was probably too tender to with,

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stand the "'sweet reasonableness" of Gandhi j i ' s arguments and the head-on attack of moderns l ike Nehru and Bose. It need hardly he pointed out that even Gandh i j i had come under the influence of the West, al though his genius had enabled h i m to find an ' I n d i a n ' answer to the challenge posed by the West. Weaned Away f r o m Tradi t ional Values

First in the thir t ies and then, on an increasing scale, in the forties, the at t ract ion of Social ism and Communism weaned many b r igh t minds away f rom t rad i t iona l values. That in their enthusiasm they over­stepped the. l i m i t , only underlines the extent to wh ich they discarded or thodoxy. One strange result of the increasing appeal of leaders l i ke Nehru and Bose, and of the young and g r o w i n g le f t -wing movements, was the increasing vogue for West­ern style dress, minus the neck-tie, and this t ime, even the 1942 move­ment could not check i t .

An event of note was the last W o r l d W a r I I , which took thou­sands of young men and hundreds of young women of middle-class famil ies al l the way to A f r i c a , Eu­rope and East Asia. The standard in the al ien-run a rmy was set by the Br i t i sh officers, and the Ind i an counterparts became tho rough ly anglicised in everyth ing except where nat ional p r ide came i n . Tha t Westernisation was the need of the day was. a l i t t le later, admit ted by our leaders also when Neta j i Bose raised an a rmy on exactly s imi la r lines. Westernisation had come to stay.

Post-War Growth The post-war years have seen an

un inh ib i t ed g rowth of westernisation among these people, because the f ight w i th B r i t a i n being over, no stigma attaches any more to being westernised. But while in externals we have accepted a great deal of what is there to be had, the degree of change in matters sp i r i tua l under this influence is a moot point . The educated class of this area seems to be abreast of all developments and it reacts quickly to every change. If it can be said that I n d i a is t r y i n g to find its feet in a new w o r l d , it may be assumed that the reaction among Panjab Hindus w i l l not be diss imilar to that elsewhere in the country . I f in India of today, the stress is more on matters of s p i r i t (teachings of Upanishads, etc.) , and less and less on r i t u a l , the same can be discerned here also.

It can now be seen that Westerni­sation among Panjabi Hindus and Sikhs is not due to the lead of the Brahmins or of any one social g roup as such. It is the r ich and the mid­dle-class people of this area who have given the lead for this way of l i fe . As the roots of Sanskrit isation, of respect for r i t ua l values of H i n d u religion,, were not very strong, nor deep, such values have had a very short l i f e . As regards Brahmanisa-t ion and Sanskri t isat ion, reformist sects apart, the H i n d u of the Pan jab prefers to have a Brahmin priest,

ever though he be incapable of con­d u c i n g the rites in Sanskrit. In fact Sanskrit isation itself owes its propa­gation to westernisation. Therefore it may not be possible to postulate a gradation of Sanskiritisation-West-ernisalion here. As regards the pre­sent, it wi l l be better to say that Indianisa t ion is at w o r k ; by i t we mean Westernisation to a large ex­tent in externals and the re-assertion of largely Ind ian values, ming led wi th the humani ta r ian values of the West in matters of sp i r i t .

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