For the sociological process in which lower-caste people imitate upper-caste customs, see
Sanskritisation (sociology).
Sanskrit influence on other languages
Sanskritisation is the process of introducing features from
Sanskrit, such as
vocabulary and
grammar, into other languages.[1] It is sometimes associated with the "
Hinduisation" of a linguistic community, or less commonly, with introducing a more upper-
caste status into a community.[2][3] Many languages throughout
South Asia and
Southeast Asia were greatly influenced by Sanskrit (or its descendant languages, the
Prakrits and modern-day
Indo-Aryan languages) historically.[4][5][6]
For nearly 2,000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia,
Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia.[16] A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of
Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from
Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian.[17] Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa (आर्ष), meaning 'of the
ṛṣis', the traditional title for the ancient authors. In some contexts, there are also more "prakritisms" (borrowings from common speech) than in Classical Sanskrit proper.
Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit is a literary language heavily influenced by the
Middle Indo-Aryan languages, based on early Buddhist Prakrit texts which subsequently assimilated to the Classical Sanskrit standard in varying degrees.[18]
During the medieval era, the Indian languages had taken in a lot of Perso-Arabic influences as a result of Muslim invasions, particularly in the
northwestern subcontinent;[19] colonial-era education policies, religious nationalism, and the influence of some of the more Sanskritised Indian languages played a role in Hindus and Muslims increasingly separating in terms of their linguistic influences,[20] with Hindus tending towards the usage of Sanskrit words and the Sanskrit-associated
Devanagari script for writing Hindi.[21][22][23]
Since the 1947
Partition of India, the Indian government, which at one point considered making Sanskrit the national language, instead has sought to further Sanskritise
Hindi,[24] considering it to be easier for Indians to learn,[25] and as a way of distancing Hindi from the
Urdu spoken in the newly formed country of Pakistan.[26] Sanskrit has been used to form
new words to describe modern concepts and technologies in several South Asian languages by forming
calques based on English words.[27][22][28] In addition, Sanskrit words that have been nativised into other languages have been mixed with words from other language families, such as the
Dravidian languages, to form new words.[29]
Cultural debates have emerged over how much Sanskrit should appear in Hindi and how acceptable Persian and English influences should be,[30][31] with
Hindu nationalists favouring Sanskritised Hindi,[32] opposing Urdu in part because it is a Muslim-associated language,[33] and some
boycotting the Hindi-language
Bollywood film industry for featuring too much Urdu and English in its movies.[34][35]
^Bronkhorst, Johannes (2010-01-01).
"The spread of Sanskrit". From Turfan to Ajanta. Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday.