Brahmans As Catalyst In The Process Of Sanskritisation In The Tribal Kingdom: A Study Of The Dimasa Kingdom In Medieval Times

In medieval times different tribal kingdoms emerged in the North Eastern region of India. The Dimasa Kacharis, Ahoms, Jayantias, Tripuris and the Koches experimented with the task of state building which reoriented their kingdom from a tribal to that of a hinduised kingdom. Sanskritisation which has been used to describe the process of socio-cultural changes occurring in India has been used to study this process of assimilation of the tribals into the Hindu fold. In this process the Brahmans acted as catalysts of change by exercising their influence among the kings through their expertise in Vedic rites, playing the role of religious advisers in state affairs and by providing the tribal kings with a genealogy tracing their descent to a Hindu mythological hero.