Sanskritisation can be defined as a socialisation process in which low caste people attempt to raise their status in society by adopting the values, rituals, eating habits, and dress of upper (twice-born) castes. When a social group is undergoing Sanskritisation, they may also express their 'new values and ideals in theological and scholarly literature'. People going through Sanskritisation also often claim to be direct descendents of twice-born castes. For example, the Kusunda, a tribal group of west Nepal, claim to be the descendents of Thakuris, and have even adopted Thakuri clan names. SImilarly, members of some Thakali communities claim to be descendents of Thakuris who migrated from west Nepal.
The purpose of this article is to show 1) the ways in which members of the Langtang Tibetan community use Hindu norms, as a political language, to protect their interests in specific contexts of interaction with Hindu caste Nepalis and; 2) to demonstrate that the political use of Hindu norms is not a sign that Langtang Tibetans are becoming Sanskritised. On the contrary, my argument is that Langtang Tibetans, by using Hindu norms as a political resource, have been better able to maintain their Tibetan Buddhist cultural autonomy and identity, in the face of integration into Nepal's national political-economic system.
