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The eminent Sociologist Browns defines community as 'By a community mean a small diversified group of people-young and old, male and female, with different skills and abilities, living together as kin

128 neighbours. It is a face-to-face primary group in which many of the major functions of life are carried on cooperatively within the group itself. 26 Each community influences the education of the child formally as well as informally community tries to mould education according to its social, economic and political needs or aspirations. This is an ongoing and continuing process. Community modifies the behaviour of child through social contacts group activities and group dynamics in such a way that he begins to participate in all the desirable activities of the community of which he is an integral part. The environment of the community moulds and modifies the behaviour of the child according to its ideas, ideals and goals. Community environment influence on the physical development of a child. Community organizes local bodies and these bodies build park, gardens, hospitals and provide gymnasiums. Children of that community make use of these facilities. Community organizes reading rooms and libraries for use by the children and adults. Some communities organize exhibitions, symposium and classes and conferences on various subjects. The community organizes fairs, festivals and religious functions. All these activities stimulate children to develop social ideas, idea of social service, social customs, traditions and beliefs in a natural way and also impart socially desirable values. Each community has its own culture. Children learn to respect this culture through imitation. Rural and urban

129 communities imprint their contrasting cultures upon the minds of the children by the peculiar use of pronunciation manners and behaviour. Community also influence the formation of character, morality and political ideas of children directly and indirectly. Children observe the vocations the members of their community and choose some of them for their future life. Finally the community provides many informal devices and materials like radio, television, newspapers, magazines libraries and reading rooms to children to enhance their education. The above concepts of community and its activities are relevant in the India only after some necessary modifications and changes. Majority of people of India are living in villages. Life in the village is mostly directed by the concerns of caste or jati. Therefore when we define the community life. in the Indian villages, we cannot avoid the element of caste, which is the major component of the village community. A person's caste is determined by birth. A child belongs to the jati of his parents. He cannot opt out of the jati. Jati is the field of actual and potential kin, and the family is actual field of closest kin. Jati is considered as the traditional form of community life in Indian context. For a long time, as jatis were formed on the basis of occupation, a child born in a particular jati was given training in the prescribed occupation of that jati.

130 The child followed the occupation of his jati as prescribed by the lawmakers. It was his dharma and he was obliged to act accordingly. He was not allowed to take-up subjects of study or training that were sanctioned to other jatis or sections of the community. This limited the scope of education in the traditional communities. The system of jati has two aspects: it is a separating force as one jati is different from another and at the same time it is structured in a hierarchy of chain relations. In short the relations between the jatis in an Indian village are ways of being together separately. It is true that each person is an individual in his family, a member of one group in a collection of groups, a part of a local society in a larger social order, but for an Indian village togetherness and separateness are carried on in the same locals. Even though the jatis keep distance from one another, and exploitation and hegemony are basic in this structure, all jatis provide essential services for each other and this togetherness or mutual dependence creates a unity within the diversity of jatis. 27 In the traditional village communities the occasions of festivals rituals marriages and such other celebrations gave opportunities for the pupil to show their solidarity and achievements. This also gave a chance for them to invite other villagers and have institutions with the visitors and guests. Various competitions were held during the community festivals

131 and an ordinary villager could get new experiences form these gatherings. Consciously or unconsciously the villagers were given education in the matters of employment and entertainment, rituals and religion through these celebrations. A community is people living in a particular area, linked by common culture, language and common interests. In the Indian context we have seen that the traditional jatis have a great role in defining one's life in the community. Generally a village use a common language and the use of this language may vary according to the jatis or communities, which have their own systems of symbols, occupation and oral literature. The language and culture of the prominent and powerful jatis, exerted influences on others. According to the varna system of social classification, the brahmanas and ksatriyas were the privileged section of the society. This gave dominance to their language and literature in the community as a whole. Sanskrit was the language of religion and ancient sciences which was at that time exclusively owned by the brahmanas. Because of their knowledge of the Vedas, the brahmanas were considered as the best among the jatis. The ksatriya supported them with wealth and power. Only The Brahmanas, Ksatriyas and Vaisyas, who were known as the traivarnikas were qualified for the study of Vedas and Sanskrit sastras. The sudras and other sections of the society were

132 prohibited to study Sanskrit and Vedas. In order to maintain the supremacy of the brahmanas and ksatriyas, the jatis which were lower in rank were subjected to exploitation and suppression for centuries. These discrimination are not practiced in the contemporary India and such practices are illegal today. In modern times due to social reformations and political changes, there is a great decrease in caste oppression in the democratic republic of India. The subjugated sections of the society is becoming more and more empowered and armed with the democratic principles and human rights, equality and freedom they vehemently challenge the traditional order. Thus the social change in India is caused by the struggles fought by the oppressed castes for their human identity and their resistance to oppression and discrimination suffered for centuries. The belief of the colonial historians that the well structured village communities in India were standing stable and changeless for hundreds of years and the changes appeared during the period of colonial intervention is not accepted today. Indian society has its own ways and habits of social change and one of those, as put forward by M.R. Sreenivas was Sanskritization. 'The concept of sankritization shows that social mobility was possible in India through subtle cultural and ritualistic ways. Sanskritization is defined as the tendency of the lower castes to imitate

133 and follow the culture and life style of the higher castes. Since Brahmanas were the highly privileged class, their influence was decisive in reforming the original or primitive customs and forms of religion followed by the lower castes. The ideology of brahmanas, their literature and languages were held in high esteem by the subjugated communities. Since the brahminical discourse was preserved in Sanskrit, this kind of aspiring for higher level by the people of lower level of the society is known as Sanskritization. According to this theory sanskritisation meant the acceptance of brahminic ideals of worship, family and social life and the consequent attainment of promotion in social rank and the abandoning of the uncultured practices of lower castes. 28 This transformation in culture included the thought that the Vedas and Sanskrit language are the roots of the brahmanical wisdom and social status. The infiltration of Sanskrit and its culture from the higher to the lower strata of the society are relevant for this type of social mobilization. People wanted to internalise new Sanskrit or brahminical models formally and informally and this was an important motif for social reforms and organizations. As a by-product of Sanskritization tendency to mix Sanskrit with local languages increased. The knowledge in Sanskrit was considered as a privilege and indication of scholarship. Attempts were made to translate

134 the knowledge of the folk or local community to Sanskrit and thus endow it a higher status. On the level of worship many local deities were renamed as hindu or aryan deities. And old forms of worship which were of animal sacrifices etc were abanded. The use of Sanskrit mantras and non-violent forms of worship were introduced following the Brahminic principles. The method and history of Sanskrit education in the traditional communities will be treated in detail in the second chapter of the thesis. The theme, nature and ways of informal education were varied in the complex set up of Indian society composed of castes and sub castes, a plurality of languages and religions.