Revision summary
Sects are organised religious paths that multiply inside Indian faiths. Print, gurus, and cities help them grow. Sanskritization, Dalit exit, and purification drives all feed sects. They offer community and can become political blocs. Ghurye’s single Hindu whole underplays this fission.
Model answer
Introduction
Religious sects in India grow as organised paths inside and beside the large faiths. Growth is not a simple return of tradition. Print, gurus, caste mobility, and the market make new fellowships that promise purity, healing, or dignity.
Body
Why sects grow
- Yogendra Singh’s modernisation of tradition: bhakti and reform recast as associations with membership, media, and campuses.
- Sanskritization and anti-Brahmin or Dalit assertion both produce sects: some copy higher ritual, some exit, as in Navayana Buddhism.
- Urban anonymity and illness send people to gurus who offer a portable community.
Patterns
- Hindu sampradayas, Sikh reform streams, Christian denominations, and Islamic reform groups all branch.
- Syncretic dargah piety competes with purifying sects that police boundaries.
- G. S. Ghurye’s civilisational Hinduism is too smooth; sects are how that civilisation actually splits.
Social functions
- Sects can equalise inside the fellowship and still keep caste at marriage.
- They can be welfare machines or political blocs.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD ND[Need healing dignity mobility] --> SC[Sects grow] MD[Media urban guru] --> SC CST[Caste reform exit] --> SC
Conclusion
Sects grow because large religions do not meet every honour, healing, and mobility need. In India they multiply through media and migration. Growth is organisational and political, not only theological.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Write a critical narrative on the concerns of religious minorities in India.
Next question on this syllabus topic (2018 · Q4(b)). View answer →
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Is a sect always a break from caste?
Some preach equality. Marriage and leadership often restore rank.
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Are sects only Hindu?
No. Every major Indian religion shows sectarian growth and split.
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