Syncretism in India: A Reality or an Unreality?

Abstract

The term 'syncretism' has often been misinterpreted by scholars of different disciplines of social science, including anthropology. A number of articles could be found in anthropology relating to syncretism that interprets the term as mere borrowing of cultural traits among two or more than two groups; more specifically, between Hindus and Muslims, or Hindus and Christian, or even between tribals and non-tribals, or tribals and Christianih;. Such interpretations are gross deviations from the root-meaning of the term. The essential components of syncretism are; first, that it emerges only when two incompatible groups unite together as a front to face a common crisis or a common foe, and secondly, that it is a temporary phenomena. The paper deals with a number of examples of mistakenly suggested syncretistic phenomena put forward by anthropologists, and concludes with this remark that syncretism hardly exists in the daily life and culture of India. It is a myth, a utopia.