Religion, Caste and Modernity:A Study of U.R. Ananthamurthy's Samskara

Religion and caste are probably the two most important aspects of Indian social and cultural life. So many critiques of religion and caste have been attempted and time and again casteism has been attributed to Hinduism and the researches have been done to prove that. The paper explores how U.R. Ananthmurthy takes a different stance in Samskara through the story of learned Brahmin, how he refutes the alleged religious sanction of casteism and orthodoxy. The paper tries to argue how the origin of casteism and untouchability can be attributed to the misunderstanding of Dharma, rather than the understanding of it. Through his study of the ways of achieving moksha, the novelist shows that orthodoxy have no place in Hinduism. The novel also shows how the practice of orthodoxy can hamper the social and economic development of the community. How casteism and orthodoxy can affect the people is shown through the differences that exist between the two subcastes of the Brahmins:Madhavas and Smartas;and through Brahmin females and untouchable females.