M N Srinivas

Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas was one of the most influential Indian sociologists and social anthropologists of the 20th century. Renowned for blending rigorous fieldwork with accessible theoretical insights, Srinivas fundamentally reshaped how caste, social change, and rural life were studied in India. His contributions-especially the concepts of Sanskritisation and dominant caste-are now cornerstones of Indian sociology, offering powerful tools for understanding stratification, mobility, and identity in both traditional and modern contexts.

Born in the princely state of Mysore in 1916, Srinivas moved from philosophy to anthropology, eventually training under A.R. Radcliffe-Brown at Oxford. Yet it was his return to India and immersive research in southern villages that defined his legacy. Combining deep ethnographic immersion with sharp theoretical framing, Srinivas elevated Indian sociology from a derivative discipline into one that spoke with a distinctive and original voice.

Through his writing, teaching, and institution-building, Srinivas not only documented the changing face of Indian society but also helped shape its academic infrastructure. His legacy endures not just in textbooks, but in the ongoing relevance of his ideas in contemporary debates about caste, identity, and development.

Early Life and Fieldwork

M. N. Srinivas was born on November 16, 1916, in Mysore, Karnataka, into a traditional Tamil Brahmin family. His early education was shaped by the elite intellectual environment of the University of Mysore, where he earned his B.A. in Social Philosophy in 1936. He initially pursued an LLB, but his intellectual curiosity soon led him toward anthropology and sociology, which were then emerging as disciplines in India.

Srinivas completed his M.A. in Sociology at the University of Bombay in 1940, where he came under the influence of G. S. Ghurye, a pioneer of Indian sociology. His master’s thesis, focused on marriage and family in Mysore, was later expanded into his first book.

In 1945, Srinivas earned his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford under the supervision of A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, a leading figure in British structural-functional anthropology. His doctoral work, Religion and Society Among the Coorgs of South India (1952), was a rich ethnographic study that examined ritual, kinship, and caste among the Coorgs (Kodavas) a relatively isolated, land-owning community in Karnataka.

After his doctoral studies, Srinivas turned his attention to Indian village life. Between 1948 and 1952, he conducted immersive fieldwork in Rampura, a village near Mysore. His methodological approach-marked by participant observation, long-term residence, and daily interaction-set a new standard for sociological fieldwork in India.

This research led to one of his most celebrated books, The Remembered Village (1976), which combined firsthand observation with narrative reflection. Though his original field notes were destroyed in a fire, the work reconstructed the life and changes in Rampura from memory, showcasing not just ethnographic depth but remarkable storytelling.

Srinivas’s early fieldwork laid the foundation for his theoretical innovations and helped bridge the gap between Indian and Western sociological traditions. His deep engagement with Indian rural life allowed him to theorize caste and change in ways both grounded and globally influential.

Theoretical Contributions and Academic Roles

M. N. Srinivas is best known for introducing a series of concepts that fundamentally redefined the sociological study of India-especially caste, social mobility, and power structures. His most influential contribution is the concept of Sanskritisation, developed through his observations in Coorg and Rampura.

Sanskritisation describes the process by which lower or intermediate castes seek upward mobility by adopting the rituals, customs, and lifestyle of the upper castes-particularly the Brahmins. This challenged earlier static models of caste, showing that Indian society was far more dynamic and adaptive than previously understood.

Another key concept he coined was the dominant caste-a caste group that exerts economic, political, and ritual influence in a village, often due to numerical strength, landownership, and local leadership. This framework allowed sociologists to understand how power operated within and across caste groups in rural India.

Srinivas also wrote about inter-caste and intra-caste mobility, ritual status, and the impact of modern institutions (education, democracy, development programs) on traditional Indian social systems. His field-based, empirically grounded work stood in contrast to text-based Indology and helped move Indian sociology away from abstract theorizing toward lived realities.

In terms of academic leadership, Srinivas held several prominent roles:

• Lecturer and Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford (1945–1951), where he built intellectual bridges between Indian and British anthropology.
• Founder and Chair of the Sociology Department at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda (1951), where he trained a generation of Indian sociologists.
• Founder of the Sociology Department at Delhi School of Economics (DSE) (1959), turning it into India’s premier center for social science research.
• Later, he became a visiting professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, and helped establish the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC).

Influence, Critiques, and Legacy

M. N. Srinivas’s influence on Indian sociology is unparalleled. He not only introduced original concepts like Sanskritisation and dominant caste but also transformed the methodological culture of the discipline in India. His emphasis on participant-observation, long-term fieldwork, and ethnographic detail inspired a generation of sociologists and anthropologists to root their theories in lived experience rather than ancient texts or colonial records.

His writings offered a new way to view social mobility in India-not as a static hierarchy but as a fluid process driven by symbolic and cultural shifts. This challenged both colonial and nationalist narratives that portrayed caste as either rigid or vanishing. His idea of dominant caste, for example, illuminated how certain castes, even if not at the top of the ritual hierarchy, could wield significant local power through land, education, or politics.

Srinivas’s approach influenced the study of rural development, electoral politics, affirmative action, and identity movements in post-independence India. His work also helped internationalize Indian sociology, making it a respected contributor to global academic discourse.

However, his work was not without critique. Scholars later argued that his structural-functionalism often underplayed social conflict, resistance, and historical change. Critics like Partha Chatterjee and Dalit scholars noted that Srinivas did not adequately address issues of caste oppression, exclusion, and violence. Feminist scholars also observed that gender often remained marginal in his analyses.

Still, his influence endured. His students went on to become major intellectuals, including Veena Das, who applied his methods to urban violence and trauma, and Andre Béteille, who refined and critiqued caste theory in light of class analysis.

In one of his final lectures, provocatively titled “An Obituary on Caste as a System,” Srinivas reflected on how Indian caste had evolved in the modern era-not disappearing, but transforming under democracy, migration, and affirmative action.

References

1. United Indian Anthropology Forum – Prof. M. N. Srinivas
   https://www.anthropologyindiaforum.org/indian-luminaries/professor-m.-n.-srinivas
2. Research Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (Sanskritisation definition)
   https://rjhssonline.com/HTMLPaper.aspx?Journal=Research+Journal+of+Humanities+and+Social+Sciences%3BPID%3D2012-3-3-20 buddingsociologist.in+6rjhssonline.com+6rjhssonline.com+6
3. Research Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (The Social System of Rampura)
   https://rjhssonline.com/HTMLPaper.aspx?Journal=Research+Journal+of+Humanities+and+Social+Sciences%3BPID%3D2012-3-1-29
4. University of Chicago PDF – The Remembered Village
   https://home.uchicago.edu/aabbott/barbpapers/barbsrin.pdf
5. International Journal Corner – Re-Examining Sanskritization
   https://www.internationaljournalcorner.com/index.php/theijhss/article/download/141108/99303/338830
6. American Journal of Sociology review (JSTOR)
   https://www.jstor.org/stable/23619893 home.uchicago.edu+1en.wikipedia.org+1jstor.org
7. Budding Sociologist – Srinivas & S.C. Dube
   https://buddingsociologist.in/m-n-srinivas-s-c-dube/