Paper short abstract:

This paper examines imitation as a cultural pathology in the transnational context of caste. Building on the imitation models of Sanskritisation and Sikhisation of Hinduism and Sikhism, the paper illustrates the ways in which imitation operates as a cultural pathology within these imitational models

Paper long abstract:

Sanskritisation is referred to as the emulation of Brahmin’s way of life by non-Brahmins or lower castes. Similarly, the imitation of higher-caste Sikhs by lower-caste Sikhs is described as “Sikhisation”. However, the two concepts – Sanskritisation and Sikhisation – differ fundamentally, although the basis of their formation is governed by a common element: imitation. Drawing on the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde’s concept of “imitation”, this paper explores imitation as a cultural pathology. In the case of Sikhisation, for instance, imitation is capable of the formation of an alternative religion by denouncing religious and cultural dominance of the higher-caste Sikhs. Ravidasis, the lower-caste Sikhs, have denounced dominant Sikhism due to its prevalent caste discrimination and social exclusion and adopted new religious lifestyle through the process of Sikhisation. Sanskritisation on the other hand contains the consciousness of its imitators, the lower-caste Hindus, which is potentially subversive of Brahmanical social order. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among Hindu and Sikh migrants in Britain, this paper examines how imitation operates as a cultural pathology in a transnational context of caste. It unravels the myth that imitation of Brahmins (or Sanskritisation) is in the interest of lower-caste Hindus by exploring simultaneously the concept of Sikhisation. Indeed, the paper explores Sikhisation as a means that helps build the lower castes a new religious alternative upon which socio-religious struggles are launched in everyday life.