Beyond the Vedas: How Local Cults Shaped Puranic Hinduism | Reverse-Engineering Puranic Hinduism

Did you know that classical Hinduism was never a rigid, static religion? In this video, we explore the fascinating history of how the Brahmanical tradition expanded its influence by absorbing local cultures. Drawing directly from Kunal Chakrabarti’s seminal paper, 'Anthropological Models of Cultural Interaction and the Study of Religious Process', we break down two major anthropological models used to understand this cultural blending. We will explore M.N. Srinivas's concept of 'Sanskritization' (how lower castes adopted Brahmanic customs for upward mobility) and Robert Redfield & Milton Singer's concept of 'Great and Little Traditions'. join me to understand How the Puranas acted as a vehicle to integrate diverse local cults into a unified, syncretic religious system. #history #puranas #indianreligioushistory #understandingindia #ancienthistory #ancientindia