HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 

2.1 Language is a great unifying factor. In our day-to-day dealings, we communicate through the medium of a language. It also serves as a transmission line conveying the accumulated experience, wisdom and cultural forms of a society from one point to another. As a political force, it provides a link between the rulers and the ruled and acts as a means of disseminating policies and ideologies.

2.2 A multi-lingual society adopts more than one language to make inter-communication easy not only for commercial and administrative but also for cultural purposes. Ours is a country of vast dimensions, with varying cultural layers and a multiplicity of languages and dialects. Historical forces have forged abiding links between divergent groups, far-flung regions and widely differing languages.

2.3 In the midst of a myriad languages and dialects, our social milieu represents a vast network of interacting forces, which have influenced our living and thinking patterns and moulded them to suit the ever-changing needs of modern society. While still retaining their linguistic identity, people in the various regions have aspired to seek integration with the main educational, cultural and administrative stream through a Sustained and dynamic excise in evolving synthesis out of diversities. The uninterrupted creative activity of centuries in our major languages has but added charm and colour to our national life.

2.4 In this process, they have encontered many problems of development and growth in common with sister languages and have sought to resolve them in accordance with their own genius and needs. An insight into the causes of the malaise, an awareness of the possibilities and a breadth of vision to foresee the future clearly are required for a comprehensive appraisal of these problems.

2.5 Many of the problems have their roots in the past while others have been generated by the quickening of the tempo of development particularly in the fields of education, mass communication and administration. Although the size of the Population, the territorial limits and the stage of literary development differ from language to language, there is a stricking similarity among them in respect of their growth. This is primarily due to the uniform neglect in the past of the regional languages by the alien masters. The creation new ooportunities of progress in the post-Independence era has stirred the writers of different languages to new activity. It has made them conscious, on the one hand, of the enormous possibilities of development and on the other of the limitations of their resources. Even the languages which have been adopted for official use within their own regions face a new set of problems once they step outside their area. The problem of languages has, therefore, rightly acquired national dimensions.

2.6 As we proceed to deal with the problems of Urdu in the various spheres, this general survey of the common destiny of our languages is necessary to understand the genesis of its troubles and the confines within which solutions are to be sought.

2.7 The credentials of Urdu as a national language understood by large sections of the population all over the country are accepted without the need for a proof. In this context, it must not be regarded merely as a widely spoken or commonly understood language but also as one which has considerable cultural significance and local colour. In represents a rich heritage of India drawn from the last five hundred years of its history. It must not, therefore, be allowed to run even the remotest risk of being gradually reduced to a position of insignificance.

2.8 In undertaking the present study of its problems, the Committee has been guided by the accepted national attitudes towards the language, problem. It has delved deep into the history of the language, literature and journalism to highlight the important role the language has played and continues to play In our national life, In as much as it serves wide areas in the country including some substantial concentrations and sizeable proportions of our population, its needs are basically the needs of the entire community of languages in the country. The attitude of the governing hierarchy and socio- Polytical forces towards one language is relevant and significant for other languages as well and any remedies that we strive to find for the ills afflicting one should be broadly applicable to them all. The study may also serve to remove some of the wide-spread misconceptions about the role of Urdu in our society and to assess the opportunities and prospects that the future may hold for it.

Early History

2.9 Like all modern Indo-Aryan languages, Urdu traces its ancestry to Sanskrit, the doyen of the Indo-European family. it shares the rich heritage of the Indo-Aryan family as also the story of evolution with sister languages. Studies in historical linguistics have revealed that a branch of Aryans, who had migrated to southern Mesopotamia and Iran, pushed forward further east and entered India around 1500 B. C. This is the time when the story of the Indo-Aryan languages begins. At this time, the languages and dialects of Asio Austric, the Sino-Tibetan and Dravidian families were already in vogue in Indict. Naturally a process of acculturation. and assimilation started, resulting in an obvious impact of the Aryan language on' these languages and dialects and vice versa.

7

2.10 The oldest specimens of the Aryan language in India are known as Vedic Sanskrit, preserved in the four Vedas believed to have been compiled during 1200-800 B. C. or even earlier. The period from to 600 B. C. is identified with classical Sanskrit. The entire period from 1500 to 600 B. C. is called the old Indo-Aryan stage. At the close of the old Indo-Aryan period a more significant process began with the original inhabitants also showing preference for the Aryan languages. On the other hand, the impact of the local languages and dialects affected the standard literary forms, styles and vocabulary between 600 B. C. and 1000 A. D. To attain linguistic unity, an effort was made to standardize it. through a process of selectivity. Recognition was accorded to only such words as had acquired currency in all the regions. This standardized language was accepted and adopted in literature but moved farther away from the current dialects.

2.11 In the early stages, the middle Indo-aryan assumed the form of Prakrits including pali,the Ashokan Prakrit and other dialects. In that stage, Prakrits: proper, namely, Maharashtri, Shaursoni, Magadhi, Ardh Magadhi and Paishachi came into being. They got impetus from. the launching of strong religious movements by Mahavir and Buddha, as both preached in local dialects.

2.12 The Prakrits did not take long to assume a literary status alognside Sanskrit, though the latter still reigned supreme.The literary style of Prakrits is represented by Pali,Dr.Shaukat Sabzwari has tried, to trace the growth of Urdu direct to Pali but the assertion is open to question.The extensive use of Pali by Lord Buddha and his followers has influenced the history of most northern languages.

2.13 With the passage of time,the Prakrits took the form of Apabhranshas, which according to Dr. Siddheshwar, Varma are only indicative of an evolutionary stage of an evolutionary stage of Prakrits. Varma puts their date around 600 A. D.* Linguists have enumerated seven main Apabhranshas shaurseni-Magadhi, Nagar, Unnagar, Brachad, Maharashtri and Ardh Magadhi.Shaurseni,however.was more developed and was used as a literary language even in Magadhi and Ardh Magadhi areas.Its influence is visible on the old Bangla and Maithili poetry also. In a sense,it was the lingua franca of northern India and the continuous stream of its literature runs through 900- 1300 A.D

Modern Indian Languages

2.14 The emergence of modern Indian Languages marks the third stage in the. evolution of the Indo-Aryan, namely, Modern Indo- Aryan, which in order of time came after the Apabhranshas, around 1000 A. D. The more important among them were the Western Hindi dialects. They covered roughly the whole area then known as Madhya Desh,from Sirhind in the West to Allahabad in the east and the Himalayas in the North to Vindhyachal and Bundelkhand in the south. Linguistically its borders touched Punjabi in the north-west,Marathi in the south, Eastern Hindi in south east and Jaunsari, Garhawali and Kumaoni in the north. The region where Sanskrit and Shaurseni Prakrit had flourished earlier, now witnessed the birth of modern dialects- Haryani, Khari, Braj, Qannauji and Bundeli, whom Grieson has given the group name of Western Hindi.

2.15 Braj Bhasha was the leading language with its centre in the Braj(Mathura)region. But it stretched southwards to Agra,Bharatpur,Dholpur,Gwalior and the,eastern districts of the erstwhile jaipur State.In the north,it reached up to Gurgaon and in the north-east, it encircled Aligarh, Bulandshahar ,Etah, Mainpuri, Budaun,Bareilly and the Tarai area of Nainital. In Bulandshahar, it merged into Khari Boli, was undisputed in the literary domain.

2.16. Haryani, also known as Bangroo and Jato, was spoken in the north-west of Delhi, in the districts of Karnal, Rohtak, Hissar, etc. According to Grierson it was a variation of Khari Boli, with an admixture of Rajasthani and Punjabi dialects. The Khari Boli region comprised Western Rohilkhand, northern parts of Doab. Ambala and Kalsi.

2.17 It is difficult to fix the definite point of time when modern, Indian languages supplanted Apabhranshas. The period is usually reckoned to be around 1000 A.D but the doha literary tradition in Apabhransha mixed language was found as early as 800 A. D. and Apabhransha literature continued in trickle right upto the 14th, even the 15th centuries A. D.

2.18 Earliest literary compositions in Khari Boli are to be found in Rasos and Amir Khusrau's compositions. The authenticity of their reported age and even authorship is open to doubt, as internal evidence suggests many later additions and interpolations. The language used in the Rasos is Braj, an admixture of Khari Boli and Rajasthani.

2.19 Then there is the cons derable volume of literature produced by the Buddhist Sidhas and Nath panthiyogis. While the language of Siddhas has an admixture of Poorbi, the language of Nathpantis is different as they were based in the Punjab.

2.20 New influences were seeping into the modern Indian languages through Arabic flowing from the pre-Islamic Arab settlements along the Western Coast and later from Sind. persian and pushto words and phrases were also percolating through commercial and political contacts. With Iran and Afghanistan. Turkish was brought by the Turks the Mughals and other Trans-Oxonian elements. The impact was felt by various

* Aryai Zabanen - 56

8

languages in varying degrees.The Punjab dialects and, a little later, Khari Boli and Braj assimilated them more than the others. The process was accelerated after the establishment of the Sultanate in Delhi (1206 A. D). The earliest proof of his literary and linguistic fusion is provided by the compilation of a full Hindi diwan by Khwaja Masud Saad Salman (about 1121 A. D.). The diwan is how extinct but historian Aufi testifies to its existence in his lubbul Albab and Amir Khusrau in his writings.

2.21 Although the fusion of certain non-Indian phonetic elements and words with the dialects and languages spoken in Sind, the Punjab and Gujarat and the strip of land around Delhi bad started much earlier, there is scant historical or literary material or the early stages of its development, phrases and words indicative of the new current were first seen interspersed into the Persian writings of sufis, saints and, to a much lesser degree, in that of individual poets.

2.22 It is not before the 13th century that we come across the compositions of Baba Farid Gunj Shakar and that literary genius, Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 A. D.) Khusrau is the first major poet to be associated with compositions in Dehlavi languages. Only a few of his dohas, pahelis (riddles) and Rekhta (partly in Persian and partly in Urdu) have survived but, surprisingly, hiss language does not bear that stamp of antiquity which the Malfoozat (sayings) of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia do In the Khair-ul-Majalis version. Perhaps, the original text of Khusrau got imperceptibly modified through generations of oral transmission. The language used by Khusrau is either pure Khari Boli or mixed with Braj. His geet are all in Braj Bhasha. Stray samples of Khari Boli are so found in the Malfoozat of Sheikh Hamiduddin Nagori (11931274 A.D.) as reported in Suroor-ul- Sudur.

2.23 The main dialects spoken around Delhi find full throated expression for the first time in the Bhakti poets like Namdeva (1328- 1408 A. D.) in Marathwada, Kabir (1404-1515 A. D) in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Guru Nanak (1469-1539 A. D.) in the Punjab. The Bhakti period poetry is often a mixture of Khari Boli and Braj Bhasha and commands almost an all-India audience.

2.24 In Namdeva's creations,one can spot out a fair admixture of Arabic and Persian words and phrases and even more so in the writings of Kabir and Guru Nanak, making it obvious that the new comers and the local inhabitants were eventually settling down to a fruitful cultural partnership. Hindu, Muslim and Sikh mystic were working devotedly to achieve a synthesis in the realms of philosophy, morals and social behaviour. They used Dehlavi or the Khari Boli freely to communicate their ideas.

2.25 Dehlavi had already grown in stature in the North before the imperial capital was shifted in 1504 A. D. to Agra by Sikandar Lodhi, to be ruled later by the Mughal emperors. Agra lay in the Braj Bhasha area, where the popular Krishna Bhakti cult had found a forceful preacher in Vallabacharya. These political and cultural incentives made Braj literature highly popular. It became virtually the only popular Indian language In the north, sending Khari Boli into a temporary eclipse, The Dehlavi language remained active within its limited sphere of influence, and was cultivated only at the folk level.

2.26 While talking of the Dehlavi language, we must not forget that Braj exercised a profound influence over the less developed literature of Khari Boli. Compared to other languages and dialects of the old royal capital, Braj had a much richer literary tradition, which was reflected in the evolution of other emerging languages. The social and cultural movements, which swayed vast masses of people in the north, had their origins away from the centre and much of the literature produced by the preachers and reformers belonged to the peripheral regions of the Sultanate, capital rather than to Delhi proper.

The Deccani

2.27 The Hindi, Hindavi, or Dehlavi language that was growing under the patronage of sufis, saints and commoners in the North, bad struck root in the South as early as the fourteenth century and had become an important literary vehicle after the forced exodus of the entire Delhi population southwards by the flat of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq in 1326. It received royal patronage in its new-abode, the deccan Plateau. The speakers of Khari Boli who flocked to Deogiri hailed from different areas and walks of life.. Soldecrse, traders and preachers tranplanted it in Gujarat also. There it found Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati and some dialects already current in the now surroundings. As a result of the impact of these languages, Deccani Khari Boli developed some distinctive features different from the main Khari Boli and came to known as Deccani. Having once stabilised itself, it did not take long to acquire a literary status.

2.28 The writers and poets used the Persian (Nastaliq) script for Urdu either because it was the only script they knew or because of its wide use in courts and madrassas and for inter-regional communication. New alphabets had been added to the Persian script to represent the retroflex and aspirated sounds peculiar to Urdu. Many of these symbols underwent a constant change till the Urdu script was standardized towards the close of the nineteenth century.

Official Language in Deccan

2.29 It has been claimed that the Dakhani (Deccani) was made the official language of the Bahmani Kingdom by its founder, Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah and later by Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur. Dr. Mohammed Sadiq, who says that "there is a strong evidence to support the view that .... the court language In these countries (Bijapur and Golcunda) was Dakhani and not Persian," *also quotes smith simultaneously to say that "Marathi language was ordinarily used for purposes of accounts and business." *

* A history of Urdu Literature : 45

9

In the first assertion he does not disclose his source and the statement lacks documentary confirmation, though another writer has also referred to it.

2.30 According to Prof H. K. Sherwani, an authority on the history of the Deccan, Proto-Urdu, which was called Hindavi or Dakhani in the Deccan, was in its embryonic form during the Bahmani period. Though it had become the means of communication between the Ate and the common man, its foundations bad not stabilized and. it moved like a pendulum between the easy language of the sufi saints and the high- flown idiom of the masnavi Padam.Rao Kadam Rao. It had also not yet found its way to enter the portals of Government, though it must have made considerable progress in that direction, for we find it was ordered to be used as an official language by Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur (1580-1672). In the time of Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golcunda- Hyderabad (1626-1672), we find the bifurcation of work between two secretaries, the chief secretary, who was called Munshiul-Mamalik, and the Dabir-i-Faramin-i-Hindavi, who was evidently incharge of non- Persian firmans of the Sultan. The language was indicated in the Deccan as Hindavi or Dakhani, at least right up to the dissolution of the 'Adil Shahi Kingdom in 1686 and the Qutb Shahi Kingdom a year later'. In both these kingdoms Persian continued to be official language and Dakhani and Marathi replaced Persian at the lower levels of administration. In other spheres of State work and scholarly pursuits Persian was the presiding language.

Popular Roots

2.31 Whatever may be the extent of court patronage, the language thrived chiefly because of the growing ties of affection between the sufis and the common people. Notable among the earliest writers was Sayyid Hussain Gesu Daraz, the famour Delhi saint who bad migrated to Gulbarga. His authorship of the treatise on mysticism, Merai- ul-ashiqin, has been questioned and it has been ascribed to a later period but a connected, history of Urdu literature can be traced from Saint Gesu Daraz's days. His brother sufis from Bijapur, Golcunda and Ahmednagar also made their contributions. Among them were creative writers like Meeranji Shams-ul-Ushsbaq, Burhanduddin Janam, Khub Mohammed Chishti and Shah Ali Jiv, whose mystic poems and prose works were compiled in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.