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Ahamkara: A study on the Indian model of self and identity

Kriti Gupta and Jyotsna Agrawal*

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, Bihar,

India

*Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health Neurosciences,

Bangalore, India

Kriti Gupta, (Lead Author), Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,

Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, Bihar-800013; email: kriti.phs13@iitp.ac.in, Research

interests: Positive Psychology, Indigenous Psychology, Indian Psychology, culture, mental

health, psychotherapy.

*Dr. Jyotsna Agrawal (Corresponding Author), Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical

Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health Neurosciences, Bangalore-56002; email:

jyotsnaonline@gmail.com, Research interests: Psychotherapy, Positive Psychology, positive

emotions, public mental health, child & adolescent mental health, culture, Indigenous

Psychology, Indian Psychology, Yoga & Consciousness studies, mind-body medicine, first-

person/ subjective research methodologies.

Acknowledgement: The authors wish to thank Prof. Michael F. Mascolo for his contribution in

developing model of mind as per the Indian tradition. We also wish to thank Dr. Smriti Singh for

her departmental support. The study was funded under PhD fellowship from IIT Patna, India.
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Abstract

Ideas around self and identity are at the core of various reflective traditions in both East and

West. In the psychological literature, they have multiple meanings. However, they usually reflect

the idea of self-sameness across changing time. The current study aimed to explore various ways

in which contemporary Indians define their ‘self’ and if there were any parallel between modern

and traditional construal of self. An open-ended Twenty Statements Test (TST) was used along

with a quantitative measure Ahamkara Questionnaire (AQ) based on an Indian model of self,

known as ‘ahamkara’. A sample of 240 educated, adults (Females=104, Males= 136; Mean age=

38.17 years, SD=11.45 years; range 20-60 years) were purposively selected from an urban area

of North India and recruited in this mixed-method, cross-sectional research study. Thematic

analysis of TST responses uncovered five broad thematic categories in self-concepts:

Individuality, Belongingness, Separation, Agency and Spiritual/Transpersonal. Four of them

overlapped with sub-components of ‘ahamkara’. They also differed with age where

Spiritual/Transpersonal theme was frequent in self-concepts of older samples. Quantitative

results from AQ also indicated that the level of ahamkara significantly differed with age and

gender. These findings have implications for mental health and developing interventions utilising

Indian conception of self.

Key words: Ahamkara, self, identity, ego, personal meanings, Indian Yogic tradition

Introduction

It has been argued that a general universal psychology ignores the diversity within the world,

while studying the human mind and behaviour (Misra and Mohanty 2002; Heppner 2006).

Indigenous psychology is one of the emerging approaches, where people and their experiences

are understood without de-contextualizing them. It explores human nature within a cultural
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context and provides those principles and solutions which are applicable to the local settings

(Salagame 2008). Further, it is appreciated that insights emerging from a non-western context

may go beyond applications in similar indigenous settings and have pan-cultural applications, for

example, mindfulness and related concepts. Building upon this larger view, a psychological

movement based on Indian knowledge tradition, termed as Indian psychology has emerged. It

proposes a comprehensive view of human nature, which not only includes the socio-cultural

milieu, but also incorporates the spiritual aspect of the mundane existence (Paranjpe 2002; Dalal

and Misra 2010). Within the classical Indian tradition also there are a variety of schools, such as

Yoga, Vedanta, Jainism and Buddhism with many shared ideas and few where these schools

differ vastly. One idea that has got much attention in these traditions is the idea of self, which has

been associated with well-being and spiritual growth within the Indian context (Mishra 2010;

Misra and Paranjpe 2012; Salagame 2013) and may have global implications too. In the current

research, an Indian psychological framework, which is rooted in the ancient Indian scriptures of

Yoga and Vedanta schools (Salagame 2008), has been followed. The original Sanskrit terms

have been given for significant concepts along with the English translations. These translations

are useful, but sometimes they may not fully capture the deeper meanings of many Sanskrit

terms (Banth and Talwar 2012).

Ideas on self and ego

The fundamental question, ‘who am I?’ has engaged philosophers and enlightened beings (yogis)

across centuries, and different terms and concepts have been used to describe the resulting

answers. In modern psychology, the conceptualisation of self has also changed over the decades.

It has progressed from understanding ‘I’ as the ego that develops me or my ‘self’ by separating

objects from ‘non-self’ (James 1890/1950, cited in Bauer and Wayment 2008, p. 9), to
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conceptualising self as a complex memory structure containing one’s experiences and

knowledge gained across events (Burnkrant and Unnava 1995). Furthermore, many modern

psychologists regard ego and self as the same concept, spread across affective (e.g., self-esteem),

motivational (e.g., self-enhancement) or psychosocial (e.g., self versus others) dimensions (Leary

2007; Bauer and Wayment 2008). The latter approach has been followed in this article.

Self and ego in Indian tradition

In the Indian psychological tradition, mediators and yogis have conducted first-person

experiential investigations and have provided a range of insights and explanations related to

human nature (Salagame 2013). Some of these ideas and concepts appear to not fit completely

into the categories of modern psychology and the concept of ahamkara is one of them. The term

ahamkara is rooted in Sanskrit language (aham + kara or self + doer) and generally translated as

‘ego’ in English. Ahamkara/ ego in both Yoga and Vedanta tradition of Indian psychology is

considered to be the surface self, primarily based on body and phenomenal experiences, and

different from a deeper, metaphysical self (Atman or Purusha) (Salagame and Raj 1999; Desai

and Collins 1986; Salagame et al. 2005; Jakubczak 2013). It represents an aspect of the mind,

which personalises every experience and ascribes everything to oneself; thus, constituting

cognitions and feelings of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ (Jakubczak 2013; Salagame 2011; Gaur 2011; Reddy

2014). When self-sense gets linked with experience, there is a dominance of self-relevant beliefs,

mental images and feelings all over the consciousness, thereby distorting one’s perception (Mills

2011) which may even induce arrogance and exaggerated self-appreciation (Gaur 2011). Given

such a description, one may consider that ahamkara serves as a broad concept, subsuming both

self and identity as defined in modern psychological literature (Salagame 2011).

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While functioning together with the experiencing aspect of mind (manas), organs of perception

(jnanendriya) and organs of action (karmendriya), the ahamkara leads to a variety of

experiences, ranging from suffering to enjoyment (Salagame et al. 2005; Rao and Paranjpe

2016).

Following diagram represents the integrated Indian model of the mind, which includes ahamkara

(Figure 1).

Figure 1: Model of mind as per the Indian tradition1

Components of ahamkara/ ego

Four sub-concepts of ahamkara based on Indian tradition have been described: individuality

(vaishishtya), separation-differentiation (dvaita bhava), agency (kartatva) and identification

(abhimana). While ‘individuality’ represents uniqueness, ‘separation-differentiation’ marks the

1
(Note: In this figure, Chitta has been depicted separately for more clarity about its function, although it is considered to be a
part of manas)
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feeling of being different from others, ‘agency’ signifies the sense of doer-ship and

‘identification’ indicates relationship with worldly objects, involving associations and

companionship (sanga), attractions and attachments (moha) and mineness or ownership

(mamkara) (Salagame et al. 2005, p. 75). It has further been suggested that people may have

multiple identities emerging from these aspects of ahamkara (Gaur 2011). For example, with the

sense of doer-ship and association, a person may have the identities of being an executive in an

organisation and being a mother. In addition to providing different self-views, each of these

identities may enhance each other through interactions and consequently may increase the

overall sense of ahamkara.

Ahamkara/ ego and personal growth

In modern psychology, building a stronger ego has been recommended for developing a high

sense of self-esteem (Rao 2014); however, boosting self-esteem has also been found to be

associated with narcissism (Baumeister et al. 2003, p.38). Subsequently, there has been an

emphasis on ‘compassionate and regulated ego’, which is interdependent, less self-focused and

promotes the growth of self and others (Wayment, Wiist, Sullivan and Warren 2011).

While some Indian traditions (such as Advaita Vedanta) have emphasised complete dissolution

of ahamkara, other viewpoints like Sri Aurobindo’s ‘Integral Yoga’ pointed out its utility in

terms of formalising each existence and individuating a person from the common mass of humanity

(Reddy 1990, p. 80). A disciplined ahamkara may lead to a well-adjusted life, by helping in

executing life-sustaining activities, knowing one’s roles and responsibilities in the society and

engaging with them (Raguram 2007). Empirical studies have pointed out that lower level of

ahamkara is associated with lesser anxiety, better functioning (Rekha 1995; Salagame and Raj

1999), harmonious interpersonal relationships (Chang et al. 2014) and a tendency to work
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towards social welfare (Gaur 2011). Therefore for inner growth, one may aim for decreasing or

even dissolving ahamkara so as to experience the ultimate happiness embedded in self-

transcendence (Mishra 2010; Salagame 2013) as suggested by classical Indian traditions

(Salagame 2013; Reddy 2014; Chandur and Sriram 2018). As Sri Aurobindo (1940/2005, p.239)

suggested that when an ego-based living is transcended and the inner ‘true self’ is uncovered, a

deeper individuality may be reflected (known as ‘psychic being’ or Caitya Purusha). Furthermore,

meditation is considered to be a common method of lowering ahamkara with empirical support

provided by few studies (Raj 1993; Parimala 2001).

It was noted that current empirical research in this area has predominantly used a Western

framework for understanding self, even in an Indian sample (Driver 1969; Dhawan et al. 1995;

Dolichan 2007) and often used a quantitative research approach (Raj 1993; Rekha 1995; Salagame

and Raj 1999; Gaur 2011; Chang et al. 2014). Further, previous researches have also suggested

that people vary in their levels of ahamkara (Raj 1993; Rekha 1995; Salagame and Raj 1999;

Parimala 2001). Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the various ways in which

contemporary urban Indian adults define themselves and if there are any parallel between

modern and traditional (especially Vedantic) construal of self. Additionally, ahamkara scores

were obtained to investigate any age and gender- based differences in ahamkara levels within the

study sample. It may be noted that the classical Indian discourses regard ahamkara as an

impediment in the journey of self-realisation, but for a common person ahamkara represents a

way to relate with the world (Salagame et al. 2005).

Methodology

The study had an underlying realist paradigm, where objectivity was brought in by being

attentive to the research process, data collection in a naturalistic setting and triangulation of
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research methods. Both the researcher and supervisor had roots in a similar socio-culture

background. However, there were also limits in terms of theoretical sampling, reflexivity etc.

More details of the methodology are described below.

Participants: This study followed a cross-sectional, mixed method and exploratory approach.

The study was approved by the institute doctoral committee and adhered to ethical codes. As it

attempted to explore the conceptualisation of self among lay people, the criteria for recruiting

participants were not very strict. Adults from a community sample; within the age range of 20 to

60 years, having 12 years of formal education with an ability to read, write and speak either

Hindi or English, were invited for the participation. All selected participants were briefed about

the study’s nature and objectives and their written informed consent was taken before beginning

the study. The resultant sample recruited from an urban area of North India included 240

respondents (136 males and 104 females) with Hindi as their mother tongue, although many

choose to respond in the English version of the questionnaire. The average age was 38.17 years

(SD=11.45 years) and their age range was further subdivided into different age groups (20-30 =

young adults; 31-40 = adulthood; 41-50 = middle adulthood; 51-60 = late adulthood).

Participants were predominately Hindu (85%) and living with their families (65%). More than

half of them were educated upto post-graduation (55%) and married (53%). Among them, many

reported that they were productively employed (44%). Fewer participants reported annual family

income of 2-5 lakhs per annum (37%) and the rest reported family income ranging from 6-12

lakhs per annum (1 lakh Indian rupees is approximately equivalent to 1445 USD).

Measures
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Personal Data-Sheet: For collecting demographic information, such as age, gender, educational

level, occupation, religion, socio-economic background, marital status and current living status,

this sheet was used.

Twenty Statements Test (TST, Kuhn and McPartland 1954): This is an unstructured, easy to

administer standardised test meant for capturing spontaneous self-descriptions directly. It has

been widely used in cross-cultural research due to its simple instructions, which is less likely to

give room for cultural bias (Driver 1969; Dhawan et al. 1995; Carpenter and Meade-Pruitt 2008).

In this test, respondents give twenty different statements in response to the question “Who Am

I?” by completing the prompt of “I am….” Variations have been reported in administering TST

as well as analysing the responses obtained though TST (Grace and Crammer 2003; Carpenter

and Meade-Pruitt 2008). For the current study, participants were asked to finish as many

statements as they can, within 1200 seconds. The statements were later thematically analysed.

TST has been described as a reliable and valid research tool in various studies (Driver 1969;

Dhawan et al. 1995; Grace and Crammer 2003; Hihara and Sugimura 2017).

Ahamkara Questionnaire (AQ, Raj 1993): This questionnaire is rooted in the description of

self, as given in the Indian psychological literature, especially in the Vedanta school. With 18

items, this questionnaire captures ahamkara on four dimensions, namely identification (e.g., “I

__like wearing uniforms and badges because they make me feel proud to be a member of the

organization they represent.”) and individuality (e.g., “I__ feel that I should be developing my

unique capabilities.”), both of which had 5 items each. Further, agency (e.g., “I__ attribute the

outcome of my actions to my own choices and efforts.”) and separation (e.g., “I __feel I am

different from others.”) had 4 items each. These items were presented in a ‘fill in the blanks’

format, with 4 alternative responses: “Always”, “Often”, “Sometimes” and “Rarely”. Some items
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were reverse coded and subsequently the total AQ score and sub-scale scores were calculated.

The possible total AQ score ranges from 18-72, with higher scores reflecting higher levels of

ahamkara. In a previous study, good internal consistency has been reported (Salagame and Raj

1999). In the current study, the Cronbach’s alpha value of overall AQ was at 0.55. The internal

consistency reliabilities of subscales identification, individuality, agency and separation were at

0.52, 0.24, 0.30 and 0.30, respectively.

Procedure: A questionnaire booklet, both in English and Hindi versions and in paper and web-

based format was developed. For Hindi version, questions were first translated (Hindi) and then

back- translated (English) with the help of two subject experts knowing both the languages.

Back-translated version was compared with the original for any discrepancies, and any distorted

meaning or unclear sentences were corrected through discussion for reaching a final version.

These booklets were given to those participants who gave written informed consent. Since the

questionnaires had self-report format, it was either filled in by the participants in the presence of

the researcher (first author), or was given to them to be collected later, or a soft copy was

emailed to be filled and sent back. This choice of language and format was based on a

participant’s preference and convenience. Their queries were clarified personally or over phone.

Within the sample, 130 participants opted for English, 103 for Hindi and 7 chose web-based

(English) version of the questionnaire booklet.

Data analysis: Each statement on TST was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke

2008). Rather than using the coding scheme by Kuhn and McPartland (1954), statements were

analysed for any emergent themes. References to Indian model of ahamkara/ ego and self was

also kept in mind. Both researcher and the supervisor (second author) coded responses

independently and discussed any differences in the coding scheme to reach a consensus, for
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establishing inter-rater reliability. Additionally, the frequency of qualitative themes was

calculated. Quantitative data was cleaned, and no missing value was reported. Subsequently,

after reverse scoring, the total and subscale scores were calculated. Since AQ scores were

skewed so after employing descriptive analysis, non-parametric statistics were applied for the

quantitative analysis. Mann-Whitney U test, ANOVA and Post hoc analysis with Bonferroni

correction were calculated for comparing scale scores with respect to the gender and age groups.

Results

In this section, results of both qualitative and quantitative analysis from the TST and the

ahamkara questionnaire are presented, respectively.

Qualitative themes from Twenty Statements Test: In TST, different respondents filled

different number of blanks as a response to “Who I am?” leading to the total number of obtained

themes (2787) different from the total number of participants (N=240). These themes were

grouped under five categories; namely, individuality, belongingness, separation, agency and

spiritual/ transpersonal. Given below are some verbatim responses quoted to illustrate various

thematic categories. Some responses (16, 1%) could not be grouped in any of the categories.

Individuality (f=1267, 45%): This category of themes included responses where possessing

unique individual traits was conceived as a description of self. It included three sub-categories:

mental-emotional qualities, interpersonal skills and bodily features. Within the sub-category of

mental-emotional qualities (855, 31%) responses highlighting one’s belief in having certain

mental abilities or emotional characteristics that made an individual exclusive, were included.

Statements like “I am genius.”, “I am able to read people.”, and “I am multitasking.” depicted

mental abilities and responses like “I am content.”, “I am moody.” or “I am short-tempered.”

expressed emotional characteristics. Some participants believed that they are unique in terms of
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their interpersonal skills (319, 11%) and interactions with others. For example, one participant

mentioned, “I am a girl who respects every elder.” Another participant accepted, “I give

particular attention to children of the deprived class.” Some of them described themselves using

bodily features (93, 3%) like body-type, skin, height etc. For example, “I am fat.”, “I am dusky.”,

“I am 6 feet 1 inch tall.”

Belongingness (f=577, 21%): Another major category that covered many of the responses was

belongingness. It involved responses suggesting attachment with the immediate environment

along with strong identification and sense of ownership. Statements, such as “I am a mother.”, “I

am a friend.”, “I am a teacher.” indicated attachment with certain roles. When participants used

statements like “I am an IITian.” or “I am a PhD scholar.” to define themselves, it showed their

identification with a group. On the other hand, responses like “I am close to my sister.” ,“I am

devoted to my children.” where specific kind of relationship with a significant other was cited as

self-explanation, indicated sense of ownership.

Separation (f=423, 15%): This theme captured a self-sense that emphasised the difference

between self and others and categorising the world in ‘us versus them’ based on some

characteristics. For example, responses like “I am a woman.”, “I am a vegetarian.” or “I am a

Bihari.” displayed a sense of separation. It is important to clarify that separation differs from

belongingness and individuality thematic categories. While separation requires people to

separate themselves from others using some principles (e.g., assumptions, characteristics), in

belongingness, they associate with a group without bothering about those left outside. However

in many contexts, these two are closely linked as some group memberships automatically

separate an individual from others (Darmanin 2018). Finally, individuality suggests that self is

established on those traits which make one unique.

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Agency (404, 14%): While sharing self-related information, some participants linked their self-

sense with personal efficiency and instrumentality. This theme included statements like, “I am

able to complete my work on time.”, “I am the one who, I believe, brings change to my parents’

thought.” or “I am responsible for all important departmental works.” etc.

Spiritual/ transpersonal (100, 4%): There were a small number of statements where self was

perceived as connected with the larger whole or with a transpersonal entity. For instance, “I am

the part of universe.”, “I am a soul loved by Shiv Baba.” (name of Hindu God), “ I am more than

the body, the consciousness.” etc. were seen as spiritual/ transpersonal statements.

Age related thematic analysis (supplementary analysis): Since the study included a wide age-

range, themes recurring in statements were also investigated in different age groups

(supplementary table). It was found that ideas of individuality (33%), separation (29%) and

agency (27%) were common amongst participants from the 20-30 years age group. However,

statements indicating individuality and agency thematic category became less frequent with the

increase in age. On the other hand, self-statements included in the separation thematic category

showed an interesting pattern. Unlike 30-41 years and 51-60 years age groups that used fewer

statements related to sense of separation, participants in 41-50 years age group had slightly

higher frequency of this theme in their sense of self. Similarly, an increase in statements

suggesting belongingness (26%) was also found in the middle-aged adults (41-50 years) before

again decreasing in late adulthood (51-60 years). Interestingly, self-definitions of participants

from the 51-60 years age group involved more spiritual/ transpersonal terms (48%). Such

reflections about self were fewer among young adults (15%), though their frequencies increased

with age (31-40 years: 18% and 41-50 years: 19%).

Quantitative results from Ahamkara Questionnaire (AQ):

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A measure of ahamkara was also administered to the same respondents. Cronbach's alpha value

for AQ was less than the prevalent acceptable value (≥0.70) (Lance, Butts and Michels 2006;

Taber 2018). Since it has been argued that a high alpha value does not confirm the reliability of a

research tool (Taber 2018), a decision was taken to proceed with the analysis using existing data.

Table 1 shows that participants were at the moderate levels of ahamkara (M= 44.80), as the

mean is almost the same as the median. However, a slight positive skewness suggests that few

participants would have scored much higher on total AQ. Likewise, some participants would

have scored higher on sub-scales of individuality (M=12.85) and separation (M=9.33) as

indicated by the lower mode. The agency sub-scale (M=9.81) scores had nearly a normal

distribution. For identification (M=12.80) sub-scale, mean and median were also similar;

however, some negative skewness was present with a higher mode, indicating a few respondents

would have scored lower on this aspect. Figure 2 represents the graphical distribution of total

scores on AQ. Table 2 shows that males (M= 45.57, SD= 5.54) were significantly (U= 5999, p

<0.05) higher on total ahamkara level as compare to females (M= 43.78, SD= 7.04). Although

they did not differ significantly on sub-scales, there was a trend (p= 0.09) suggesting that men

were relatively higher on the dimension of agency (Table 3).

As shown in Table 4, different age groups displayed different levels of ahamkara [F (3,

236) = 8.43, p<0.001]. Post hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction revealed that the 20-30 years

age group had significantly higher ahamkara scores, than the 51-60 years age group (p = 0.001)

and the 41-50 years age group (p = 0.007). However, this difference was not significant with 31-

40 years age group (p = 0.36). Participants from 31-40 years age group showed a significant

difference in AQ mean score, in terms of higher ahamkara, only from 51-60 years age group (p

= 0.03).
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All four age groups were also assessed on sub-scales and it was found that they differ

significantly only on individuality [F (3, 236) = 13.25, p<0.001] and separation sub-scales [F (3,

236 = 4.82, p<0.003]. Table 4 suggests that participants within the age range of 20-30 years

scored highest on individuality and separation (M = 13.94; M = 9.91) and participants from 51-

60 years age group scored the lowest (M = 11.47; M = 8.39) on these sub-scales.

Discussion

The present study is an attempt to explore the concept of self in contemporary urban India and

also to document similarities and differences from the traditional Indian ideas of self. This was

done through a mixed method design, studying personal meanings and beliefs associated with

ego and identity using a semi-structured questionnaire and a standardised Indian measure of ego

or ahamkara to assess its current levels, among urban educated adults. Such mixed method

research may help in thoroughly exploring and deeply understanding a research topic, when both

data sets are used as complementary (Moffatt et al. 2006). However, this combination of

methods may pose some difficulties, such as inconsistency in findings and the following

discussion is an attempt to address this issue and explain any inter-method discrepancy. It may

be observed that the terms assigned for most of the thematic categories resemble the dimensions

explained in the ahamkara questionnaire, which is based on the Vedantic school of Indian

tradition. It may be explained by the fact that not only the researchers were exploring similarities

and differences with the traditional ideas of self, but also that such Vedantic notions seem to be

popular in Indian culture, even in contemporary times (Gautam and Jain 2010).

The findings from qualitative data indicated that generally, self-sense includes more than

one sub-component of ahamkara, although some components may dominate depending on one’s

occupation and current life circumstances (Salagame et al. 2005; Salagame 2011). Further,
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individuality was the commonest theme where one’s uniqueness related to mental-emotional

qualities, interpersonal skills and bodily features was emphasised. This idea of individuality is

similarly present in the Vedantic literature, indicating a strong sense of autonomy, derived from

unique abilities (Salagame 2011). In the current study, the individuality themes decreased with

age, especially the bodily and mental-emotional qualities, while there was lesser decline in the

sense of individuality based on interpersonal skills. On the other hand, belongingness, which was

indicated in terms of close linking to a certain role, group or significant other, became the second

most frequent category. In Vedantic literature, such identifications may be based on association

and companionship, attractions and attachments along with ownership of worldly objects

(Salagame et al. 2005). In current data, the majority spoke about people and social groups,

whereas identification with material objects as a means of self-construal was relatively

infrequent. Therefore, the thematic category was named as belongingness, instead of

identification. The scores on identification sub-scale were negatively skewed, suggesting that

few respondents may have had low levels of identification, which has generally been encouraged

in the Indian tradition. However, lowering of identification or cultivation of such non-attachment

requires constant efforts and volition, and few people may practice it (Sahdra, Shaver and Brown

2010). Even those who are less identified with material objects may still find non-identification

harder with people and social life as well as for positive experiences in general, especially when

living a regular community life (Smrithi, Agrawal and Kapani 2017). Understanding the levels of

identification in monks living in a monastery, or those living in solitude may provide new

insights related to the sense of identification.

The separation category reflected the mental distance which people experience between

self and others based on certain facts of life. This tendency to feel a strong sense of boundary
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between self and others (duality) has been discussed in Vedantic literature (Salagame

2011). While it was not the commonest thematic category, it may reflect the most problematic

one. Potentially the sense of separation is behind various difficulties of humanity, from wars to

discrimination. It may also contribute to isolation from the rest of humanity, which leads to

decreased self-compassion and increased self-criticism (Neff 2003). An interesting pattern on

separation sub-scale scores was also observed across age groups, where it decreased initially (in

31-40 years) and then increased (in 41-50 years) before further decreasing (in 51-60 years).

Probably with growing age, people get preoccupied with managing career-demands and family

responsibilities and thus start feeling distant from the larger community. During middle

adulthood, people may even experience a growing sense of separation from their spouses and

children, in addition to accepting the ageing and mortality as a part of the developmental task

(Colarusso 1998).

It is important to note that belongingness and separation may also be viewed as two sides of the

same coin. Although within belongingness, one stresses on drawing similarities with others and,

separation focuses on how one is different from others, both require the real or imagined

presence of others. Moreover, it may be difficult to tease out these constructs since both are often

present together within the self-concept.

The quantitative findings indicated a moderate level of individuality and separation

among participants; however, positive skewness of scores on both aspects implies that few

participants have a much higher sense of individuality or separation than the rest. It has been

proposed that advanced yogi-meditators as well as patients diagnosed with any personality

disorder and concomitant difficulties with self, may experience extreme individuality and/or

separation (Salagame et al. 2005). Since study participants were recruited from the community,
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their mean scores were still not extreme either on individuality or separation sub-scales. As per

Salagame (2011) these aspects of ahamkara also corresponds to the idea of separation-

individuation, as given by Margaret Mahler (1975). Individuation marks the development of

autonomy, in the form of independent decision-making and separation allows one to make a

distinction between self and others. These two processes are suggested to be intertwined and

complementary, and help in forming one’s identity. It has also been argued that this process

starts early in childhood and may extend unto adulthood (Frank, Avery and Laman1988). Within

the current sample, a large proportion of participants were young adults who may be inclined

towards developing an autonomous identity. This was also indicated in thematic analysis, where

individuality was the most frequent self-concept category amongst younger aged participants

(20-30 years). These results differed from the findings of Dollinger and Dollinger (2003), where

they found that people in their younger years (18-27 years) reflect less individuality, due to their

poorly differentiated self-representations. However, in the current study young participants

seemed to believe in personal uniqueness and quality of being irreplaceable. It may also explain

why they displayed a sense of separation and agency in their self-definitions. Possibly while

marking their uniqueness, they recognised themselves as action-agents who are separate from

others. With ageing the sense of self becomes wider, encompassing significant others, family and

community within its boundaries, and having a decreased sense of individuality and separation.

Therefore, older adults had lower scores on individuality and separation sub-scales. The other

explanation may be that these differences occurred due to the cohort effect. Perhaps, older people

are more influenced by classical Indian thoughts, while younger people seem to be guided by an

increasingly individualistic culture focused on self-interest and personal satisfaction. Although

overall spiritual/ transpersonal concepts were few, its proportion was higher in the self-
 19

definitions of the 51-60 years age group. A self-sense that involves spirituality requires a low

level of ahamkara, which may need volition and ongoing effort. Such self-sense is similar to

what Indian mystic Ramakrishna Paramhansa called ‘ripe-ego’ (Sri Ramakrishna 1872/2008, p.

41) and was reported by few, usually in the older age group. These findings support the notion

that spiritual growth is accelerated in the second half of adult life (Wink and Dillon 2002). As

Jung (1943; 1964) pointed out that during midlife (around 50s), people usually start their inner

journey and explore the spiritual aspects of self, which was ignored during young adulthood.

Moreover, increased awareness of mortality may also facilitate this inner exploration.

The fourth theme was agency, which included those statements where self-sense was

intimately linked with one’s control over tasks and having a sense of personal efficacy,

overlapping with similar Vedantic idea of work (Salagame 2011). Previous studies have

suggested that personal agency enables an individual to differentiate between self-generated

thoughts and actions, and those created by others, thus leading to self-other distinction and

eventually awareness of personal identity (Salagame et al. 2005; Balconi 2010). While agency

was a less frequent thematic category, it further decreased a bit with age. Interestingly a

significant gender differences were found in the ahamkara level. Although no significant gender

difference was observed on any of the sub-scales, men were higher (at trend level) on agency

sub-scale. The cultural emphasis on goal pursuit for men, more than for women, could be an

explanation for such results. Similar patterns have been reported in few earlier works, where men

had higher egoism and longings for worldly objects (Gaur 1994; Bhushan and Jha, 2005; Bönte

and Jarosch 2011; Khanna et al. 2013). The sense of agency or doer-ship is closely related to

outcome orientation, which involves performing actions for desired outcomes or rewards. This

linking of action with specific goals is not only seen as an obstacle in the spiritual journey, but
 20

was also found to be associated with lowering of well-being (Street 2002; Hadley and MacLeod

2010; Banth and Talwar 2012). On the other hand, a healthy sense of agency leading to self-

direction may contribute to higher well-being (Moore 2016). Doing work with less focus on

outcomes, within ethical boundaries, and for the aim of social welfare is emphasised in classical

Indian teachings (Salagame 2008). It may be noted that most of the participants were able to

point out the major factors contributing to their self-definitions. This clarity in self-understanding

is an indication of higher self-regard and trust in personal abilities (Guerrettaza and Arkin 2015).

Such ahamkara based self-knowledge is still considered limited in Indian contemplative

traditions, it may lead to transformation through meditative practices (Jakubczak 2004).

The self-descriptions also diverged from the popular view that Indian self is

predominantly interdependent and collectivistic (Misra 2001; Li et al. 2006) and supported the

perspective that Indian self, especially in an urban landscape, is patterned upon co-existing

threads of individuality and collectivism (Mascolo, Misra and Rapisardi 2004). Even the

traditional Indian approach promotes reconciling various views. For instance, both non-

attachment and working for social-welfare have been emphasised simultaneously and such

ability to integrate different values and harmonise diversity contributes to mental health

(Narayanan and Rao 2018). In order to maintain social harmony, norms in Indian society

discourage higher level of ego (Kakar 1982) and therefore, in current sample of community

adults, only moderate levels of ahamkara were indicated (total AQ and sub-scale scores).

Implications, limitations and future directions: This study establishes the traditional Indian

model of ego/ identity, in terms of ahamkara and its components such as individuality,

belongingness, separation and agency, even in a contemporary urban educated sample. It broadly

validates an alternative view of human nature, which is different from the popular Western
 21

framework. Although limited in number among participants, qualitative results also confirmed

the presence of a spiritual component (ripe ego) in self-concepts, which was higher in older age

group. This supported the idea that people turn inwards as they age; however, due to a possible

cohort effect, it needs to be tested using longitudinal research in future. The age and gender

differences in the level of ahamkara confirmed that life experiences and socio-cultural context

shape identities (Stryker, Serpe and Hunt 2005). Moreover, given the overlap between

belongingness and separation, future studies may consider the benefits of treating them as a

single category.

Given that a majority of respondents in this community-based sample had moderate

levels of ahamkara, one may consider that contemporary urban Indians are able to maintain a

sense of interdependence, even when they desire for the individuality. These results have

personal and social implications. Understanding how people integrate diverse values within

oneself, may provide insights into the process of maintaining inner harmony while facing social

and life challenges. Future studies may not only explore the self-concepts of Indians from

different social and cultural settings, but may also compare them with Western individuals on

dimensions of ahamkara.

Few researchers have reported that high ahamkara correlates with mental health issues

(Rekha 1995; Salagame and Raj 1999). Future studies may examine whether clinical variables

differ for ahamkara level and the process of maintaining positive mental health by balancing

personal needs with family and social welfare. Such findings may be used as a guide for

identifying problematic patterns in self-description and designing interventions, accordingly. A

Longitudinal study with a clinical population and healthy meditators may provide deeper insights

into the full spectrum of mental health. As Indian tradition is varied in itself and has multiple
 22

schools within, future researchers may also explore ‘self’ from other Indian contemplative

perspectives, such as Buddhism and Jainism.

There are some important considerations and limitations of the present study. All

participants were from an urban community, and they were predominantly Hindu males; thus,

the generalisability of results is limited. Moreover, since the information on meditative practices

of study participants was not available, it is possible that some of them practiced meditation and

that would have influenced their ahamkara levels as lower levels of ahamkara have been found

in meditators (Raj 1993; Parimala 2001). Further, assigning a time-limit for responding to TST

may have restricted the openness and depth in responses. Although it was more than the original

time constraint, that is 720 seconds as determined by Kuhn and McPartland (1954), it may have

made participants feel rushed or stressed.

The free format of TST overcame the limitation associated with rating scales, but despite

that, it has limits of exploration. Thus, while self-related data varied; however, they were less

rich as compared to information gathered through an in-depth interview. Moreover, thematic

analysis based on gender has not been done. While overall there was a difference, the sub-scales

did not differ significantly.

The low reliability of AQ scale and its sub-scales in the current study is another

limitation. Although some studies have considered Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.55 not being

problematic (Berger and Hänze 2015; Griethuijsen et al. 2015; Taber 2018), still quantitative

results should be interpreted with caution. Possibly, items within a sub-scale may not be fully

tapping a sub-component of ahamkara; however, this was the only scale available for assessing

Indian model of ego. Therefore, future research may consider revising it for the contemporary

population. Contemplative traditions emphasise first-person research for deeper insights into the
 23

human mind and mental phenomena, however, this was a limitation of the current research since

a research journal could not be maintained regularly for reflexivity.

Summary and conclusion

The current study aimed to explore and document the common subjective ideas and beliefs

related to self among urban educated Indians in modern times. It further studied its overlap with

traditional Vedantic model of ego, known as ahamkara. A cross-sectional, mixed-method study

was conducted with 240 participants, using a semi-structured questionnaire along with a

standardised scale of ahamkara. Results suggested that all components of ahamkara were

present in the self-concepts; however, they seemed to be arranged in an order of decreasing

frequency. The thematic category of Individuality was the commonest, followed by

belongingness, separation and agency. Spirituality based self-concepts and ideas of transcending

ahamkara were few, although they increased with age, along with decrease in individuality,

separation and slight decrease in agency. The qualitative results have established that all four

sub-components of ahamkara: individuality, separation, agency and belongingness; exist as a

part of the self-concepts in a community sample. These findings have shown overlap with the

classical Indian ideas, upon which the ahamkara questionnaire is also built. The presence and

increase in the frequency of spiritual ‘ripe ego’ with age were also observed. The findings also

indicate that the identification component was predominantly limited to the interpersonal-social

realm in this sample, thus named as belongingness. Given the overlap between belongingness

and separation, this may be considered as a single category.

The quantitative results also demonstrated that lay community has moderate levels of

ahamkara, which also seems to decrease with age. Furthermore, males were found to have

higher levels of ahamkara than females. Current work also supported co-existence of
 24

individualistic and relational-contextual self in Indians and diverged from the idea that Indian

self is purely interdependent in nature. It is recommended that researchers should take note of the

current understanding of self in Indian context, while planning any intervention in the area of

mental health.

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Table 1: Descriptive statistics for measure of ahamkara/ ego and its subscales (N=240)

Possible Obtained
Scales Mean SD Median Mode
Range Range

Ahamkara Questionnaire 18-72 22-61 44.80 6.28 45 43

Identification 5-20 5-20 12.80 3.06 13 15

Individuality 5-20 5-19 12.85 2.38 13 12

Agency 4-16 4-16 9.81 2.45 10 10

Separation 4-16 4-15 9.33 2.33 9 7

Note: Higher scores indicate higher level of ahamkara

Table 2: Mann Whitney U test comparing total AQ scores for males and females (N=240)

Scale Groups Mean SD Mean Rank U P

AQ Male 45.57 5.54 128.47

5988 .04
Female 43.78 7.04 110.08
Note: MWU=Mann Whitney U test. p=2-tailed

Table 3: Mann Whitney U test comparing AQ’s sub-scales’ scores for males and females

(N=240)

Scale Groups Mean SD Mean Rank U P

Male 13.07 3.14 126.75
Identification 6222.500 .11
Female 12.44 2.94 112.33
Male 13.05 2.33 126.40
Individuality 6270.000 .13
Female 12.60 2.42 112.79
Male 10.07 2.26 127.14
Agency 6169.500 .09
Female 9.48 2.66 111.82
Male 9.39 2.44 121.93
Separation 6878.000 .71
Female 9.26 2.19 118.63
 31

Table 4: Difference in AQ total scores and its sub-scales scores based on Age (N=240)

Age groups (in years) n Mean (SD)

AQ Individuality Separation

20-30 77 47.14 (±4.83) 13.94 (±2.06) 9.91

(±2.32)

31-40 61 45.20 (±6.12) 12.95 (±2.29) 9.20

(±2.28)

41-50 51 43.59 (±5.89) 12.49 (±2.27) 9.57

(±2.18)

51-60 51 41.98 (±7.43) 11.47 (±2.28) 8.39

(±2.30)

F (p)

8.43 (.001) 13.25 (.001) 4.82 (.003)

Note: ANOVA (F)

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
AQ (y axis=raw scores, x axis=frequency)

Figure 2: Distribution of test scores on AQ scale