Wikipedia
Sanskritisation (Indian English) or Sanskritization (American English, Pakistani English, Oxford spelling) is a particular form of social change found in India. It denotes the process by which castes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek upward mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the upper or dominant castes. It is a process similar to passing in sociological terms. This term was made popular by Indian sociologist M. N. Srinivas in the 1950s, although earlier references to this process can be found in Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in his work "Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development" observed:
"...the whole process of caste formation in India is a process of imitation of the higher by the lower."
A very near idea of the same was conveyed by Nripendra Kumar Dutt in his book titled "The Aryanisation of India". Dutt (1925), while explaining the process of acculturation between the Aryans and the others in ancient India, observed:
"Two courses were open to the Indo-Aryan conquerors, either to exterminate the natives wholesale, or to Aryanise them but with a careful eye to prevent themselves being barbarised in the course of their work. They adopted the latter policy and solved their difficulty by evolving the caste system."
Based on documents available in the public domain, it appears that eminent linguist Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterji coined the term 'Sanskritization' in his book titled "Kirāta-Jana-Kṛti The Indo-Mongoloids: Their Contribution to the History and Culture of India". Chatterji (1951) observed:
“The subsequent history of civilization in India is the expansion and elaboration of this Sanskrit culture and its slow but inevitable acceptance by all the various peoples of India. And this went on hand in hand with the spread of Sanskrit or Indian culture in lands outside India (Ceylon ; Afghanistan and Eastern Iran ; Central Asia or Serindia ; Tibet, Mongolia ; Indo-China including Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Cochin China ; Malaya and Indonesia, which were lands of a Greater India ; as well as China and its cultural dependencies Korea, Japan and Viet-nam). The progressive Sanskritisation of the various pre-Aryan or non-Aryan peoples in their culture, their outlook and their ways of life, forms the keynote of India through the ages. And in the course of this ‘Sanskritisation’ the affected peoples also brought their own spiritual and material milieus to bear upon the Sanskrit and Sanskritic culture which they were adopting, and thus helped to modify and to enrich it in their own circles. This ‘Sanskritisation’ would appear to have been opposed by the advent of a militant Islam and an aggressive Christianity in some parts of India. But in spite of an occasional set-back, the leaven has never been inactive.”
Etymologically, the concept of Sanskritisation ought to owe its origins to the ancient Indian text, Manu Smriti ascribed to the sage Manu. In Chapter X, Verses 127-128 of the Manu Smriti, it is written:
dharmepsavastu dharmajñāḥ satāṃ vṛttamanuṣṭhitāḥ | mantravarjyaṃ na duṣyanti praśaṃsāṃ prāpnuvanti ca || (127)
yathā yathā hi sadvṛttamātiṣṭhatyanasūyakaḥ | tathā tathemaṃ cāmuṃ ca lokaṃ prāpnotyaninditaḥ || (128)
The above lines mean: (Sûdras) who are desirous to gain merit, and know (their) duty, commit no sin, but gain praise, if they imitate the practice of virtuous men without reciting sacred texts. (127) The more a (Sûdra), keeping himself free from envy, imitates the behaviour of the virtuous, the more he gains, without being censured, (exaltation in) this world and the next. (127)