Introduction
McKim Marriot (1955) is the propounder of the concepts of universalisation and prochoialisation. As Redfield (1955,1956) failed to identify the actual processes by which great tradition becomes a little tradition and a little tradition becomes a great tradition, McKim Marriot (1955) studied a village in western Uttar Pradesh and analysed the actual processes by which the great tradition becomes a little tradition and a little tradition becomes a great tradition.
McKim Marriot examined the evolution and devolution of traditions universalisation and prochoialisation.
Definitions of the processes:
According to McKim Marriot (1955), universalisation is the process of “carrying forward of materials which are already present in the little tradition”. It is a process by which little tradition evolves into great tradition. In this context, the little tradition makes upward journey and becomes a part of great tradition. As opposing this process, McKim Marriot says, there is parochialisation, which is a process of “downward devolution of great traditional elements and their integration with little traditional elements”. It “is a process of localisation, of limitation upon the scope of intelligibility, of deprivation of literary from, of reduction to less systematic and less reflective dimensions”.
Explanation
In India since times immemorial there has been a continuous interaction between the great and little traditions. Just as the folk borrow some elements from the elite culture and imbibe them through a process of reworking as also does the elite and integrate them in their own system after necessary refinemen. Milton Singer has stated: “Fragments of little tradition have been absorbed into the great tradition and the culture of the villages and tribes have in the long run, also been responsive to the authoritative teachings of literari”.
When a great tradition arises on account of universalisation of indigenous materials, it lacks authority to replace elements of little tradition because it already placed in sacred texts. When elements of the great tradition fitter down to one village level they are transformed or modified to fit the local peasant tradition. Thus the village level little tradition will not be the same as the great tradition of the city. At the same time, the elements of little tradition instead of being completely submerged or over awed, add up to the great tradition and change the form and context of great tradition. It is an interesting way of assimilation.
Parochialisation does not give much importance to rationality and deep thinking therefore, it cannot necessarily be explained rationally. There are many little traditional elements which cannot stand the scrutiny of reason and rationale, yet they continue to be accepted generation after generation. Through the process of parochialisation importance is given to the views, experiences and beliefs of a little community. As a result of “dilution” or “distortion” of great traditional cultural forms, parochialisation takes traditions away from their original forms and structures.
Illustrations
To illustrate the twin processes of universalisation and parochialisation, McKim Marriot (1955) studied Kishangarhi, a village in Aligarh District of Uttar Pradesh. The village Kishangarhi contained 24 castes. The people of Kishangarhi celebrate 19 festivals in a year of which 8 belong to great tradition and the remaining 11 belong to little tradition.
Taking up two festivals “Govardhan Puja” and “Navrathri Puja”, McKim Marriot cities the parochialisation of two great traditions. In the process of parochialisation, Govardhan Puja has become Gobardhan Puja. Gobardhan literally means cowdung wealth. Govardhan Puja refers to the worship of the possessor of cows namely Lord Krishna. It is performed to commemorate the great event of Lord Krishna lifting a hill to safeguard his followers from the fury of rains unleashed by an angry Indra. At the actual hill Govardhan in Mathura District, about 40 Kilometres or so from Kishangarhi, people perform a ceremony every year. In Kishangarhi the celebration of Gobardhan festival, which has taken some local details has no mention in Sanskrit texts. The women and children in every family perform the Gobardhan Puja. In this regard, they construct a small “hill” made of cowdung with straw and cotton on top to represent “trees”. Little models of a cowboy and cows are made of dung and placed on the hill. In the evening all the agnates in the family worship it jointly by placing a lamp on it and winding thread around its “trees” and shouting “Gobardhan Baba Ki Jai” (Long Live Grandfather Cowdung wealth ). The next morning, members of the weaver caste are paid to sing a cow dung wealth song, after which the hill and models are broken up for use as direly fuel. But a portion of the cowdung is kept aside, dried and preserved until the Holi festivals when it is used for the case annual village bonfire. Thus Marriot presented this case as an example of prochoialisation adding local details to great traditional festivals.
Similarly Navrathri Puja is a great traditional festivals. In Kishangarhi , Navrathri Puja has become Navratha Puja. Navrathri Puja is an all India festival. People worship Durga, Kali and Amba during the Navrathri Puja. But the inhabitants of Kishangarhi worship Navratha, a local or parochial goddess. Navratha does not enjoy any mention in the great traditional texts. Clearly this is an example of parochialisation of a great tradition.
McKim Marriot explains the process of universalisation with the help of several examples of festivals. One of the little traditional regional festival known as Saluno. It has universalised into a great traditional festival namely Raksha Bandhan at one point of time Saluno was a regional festival. Then it has slowly worked out into Raksha Bandhan. In Kishangarhi, the Saluno festival makes the end of that annual fortnight during which most young wives return for a visit to their parents at their villages. On Salumi day many husbands arrive at their wives villages to taken them back. Before going back with their husbands the wives as well as their unmarried sisters express their devotion to their brothers by facing young shoots of barley, the locally sacred grain, on the heads and ears of their brothers. Since brothers should accept nothing from their sisters as a free gift they reciprocate with some money. On the same day along with the ceremony of Saluno, the ceremony of Rakhi Bandhan (Charm-Tying) is also held. The Brahmin domestic priests of Kishagarhi goes to each patron and ties a polychrome thread with tassels upon his wrist. He also utters a blessing and is rewarded by his patron and with some cash because it is considered impious to accept anything free of cost. A close parallel can be seen between Saluno and Rakhi Bandhan. It may be possible that Rakhi Bandhan had its roots in Saluno. The thread charms of the priests are now factory made and are sold by a local caste group called Jogis. A few sisters in Kishangarhi have now taken to tying these thread charms on their brothers wrists. Those thread charms are also convenient for mailing in letters to brothers who are living far away in cities and towns. Thus the Rakhi Bandhan, a great traditional festival, came into being as a result of universalisation of Saluno, a little traditional festival.
According to Marriot Lakshmi Puja, a great traditional festival is a product of universalisation of the little traditional festival namely Saurati worship. During the festival people of Kishangarhi carve the image of Saurati on the walls with rice flour to invoke her blessing for health and wealth. Such practices did not originate in great traditions of the Hindus. What happened was that Saurati worship was a little traditional festival; during Diwali it travelled upwards and became a great traditional festival. Later it was accepted, incorporated in the religious texts and epics of great traditions and became part of the great tradition in course of time.
Criticism
- (i) According to McKim Marriot, the concepts of universalisation and prochoialisation reveal the dynamics of great and little traditions in terms of unilinear, two directional process. But in fact, the processes are circular and continuous in operation. Parts of the elite from the great community emerging from the little community, little traditions becoming part of the great traditions maintains a circular flow and journeying again to the little communities and thus goes on the process. The following diagram explains this argument.
- (ii) McKim Marriot’s concepts of universalisation and parochialisation may be sound in so far as they refer to the process of “give” and “take” between the “elite” and “folk” traditions but they are substantially erroneous when it is implied if an element passes down from the great to little tradition it is bound to be localised or parochialized. Folk culture is not confined to a single village, nor even to a small region but it is confines to the whole of India. What appears to be parochial may be essentially pan-Indian and vice versa. Hence, these concepts have limited validity and often fail to explain a number of cultural facts of complex India civilisation.
- (iii) Yogendra Singh (1977) comments that the concepts of universalisation and parochalisation also describe the process of cultural change implied by sanskritization. Especially universalisation comes very close to this concept. Despite this, the contribution of Marriot is very limited in scope because he focuses merely upon the orthogenetic processes of cultural change.
- (iv) The very process of flow of elements from one tradition to another reveals the process of diffusion as revealed by Franz Boas. When the elements diffuse, the recipients do not accept them as they are, unless they modify them to suit the existing cultural framework. This is what McKim Marriot says about the movement of elements of traditions either upwardly or downwardly. So, McKim Marriot’s explanation is a repetition of what Boas said long before.