Before that, the language was known by its many names, including Hindi, Hindavi, Dehlavi, etc. It flourished in the elite and courtly surroundings retaining its core vocabulary from the Indo-Aryan language base akin to the local Khariboli but its writing or script was adopted in the Persian style of calligraphy.
The name Urdu is believed to have first been used by Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi in A special mention of southern India is imperative here. It had influences from Telugu and Marathi too. Beginnings of Dakhini can be traced back to the 15th century, and it was also a product of the Muslim rulers who ruled over the southern regions.
The writings and the language were used by the Muslims and it was not as much influenced by local culture as was the case in northern India. Dakhini was best patronized by the Qutub Shahi dynasty.
Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah was a poet himself and many other rulers have writings and poems in Dakhini as well. However, the language declined after the conquest of Aurangzeb and was overtaken by Urdu. Similarly, the other languages that can be called sister languages of Urdu and are structured on Persian influences, include Sindhi, Punjabi, Kashmiri etc. The Urdu language was promoted during colonial rule, where the British referred to it as Hindustani.
The higher class both wrote and spoke in this language for administrative and official purposes. However, the Devanagari script was used by Hindus for religious texts and similarly the Persian Arabic text was used by Muslims for their own spiritual and literary texts. The Bhakti and Sufi movements also helped in the further development of the language.
Each used the vocabulary of the other to pass on and explain their ideologies and spirituality to the common masses. The Sufi saints started using Hindavi influencing it with Persian words, whereas, the Bhakti saints used Sanskrit preferences to educate the locals.
In , Urdu language became the co-official language of the subcontinent along with English. It was during the colonial period that stalwart Urdu poets such as Mirza Ghalib and Allama Iqbal created unforgettable verses. The British also started teaching Urdu to attract Muslim students in their governmental institutions.
Meanwhile, the Arya Samaj protested against the use of the Perso-Arabic script and asked for the language to be written in the native Devanagari script. Slowly, the seamlessness with which the language existed earlier began to fade away. The culmination of difference reached its peak during Partition. The history and origins of any language will have complicated and lateral developments.
It is difficult for any language to have a linear and time lined progression. Similarly, the evolution or origin of Urdu has multiple theories surrounding its existence and growth.
However, being itself is an essence of what true integration of cultures might mean. It was this language that was spoken, written and expounded by the great minds of its time, including Amir Khusrau. A language may get enriched and strengthened by obtaining nourishment from the dialects and languages spoken in its surrounding geographical territories, but it is impossible for a language to form a new language by inter-mingling with another one.
A language takes centuries, even more, to evolve. It is a slow, long, constant, complex and natural process. Though there have been hundreds of such attempts, some aimed at facilitating international communication between nations and peoples speaking different languages, none has been successful.
Esperanto, a language formed with the basic roots of some European languages, died despite its early success. In other words, experiments to devise a language have failed and no artificial language could survive.
Urdu, like other languages of the world, has been classified by linguists on the basis of its morphological and syntactical features. So it is an Indo-Aryan language which is a branch of Indo-Iranian family, which in turn is a branch of Indo-European family of languages. They developed into Prakrit and Apbhransh, which served as the basis for the formation of later local dialects. Around 1, AD, the modern Indo-Aryan era began and with the arrival of Muslims Arabic, Persian and, to a lesser extent, Turkish vocabulary began assimilating into local dialects.
Now the only question remaining unanswered is which dialect or dialects developed further to become a language that was basically one and was later divided into two languages, Hindi and Urdu, on the basis of two different scripts. Though there are a number of theories about the origin of Urdu that is, aside from camp language theory that say, for example, Urdu has its origin in Punjabi, or it was born in Deccan or in Sindh, few have stood up to research based on historical linguistics and comparative linguistic.
Of the theories considered to be holding water, the most plausible seems to be the one that says Urdu developed from some dialects spoken in and around Delhi in the 11th and 12th centuries AD. The question that still requires a precise answer is: from which Apbhransh did Urdu originate? Some linguists believe it was most probably an offshoot of Shourseni Prakrit, spoken in and around Mathura.
In brief, Urdu is much older than just a few hundred years and its roots go right back to Sanskrit. At least, it has been established beyond doubt that Urdu is not a camp language. Also, the language got evolved gradually and several new words, which were not used in Northside, became part of Urdu. Abbas, adding that there is no reference of origin of Urdu in any other part outside India.
Several million in Indian speak this language besides it has great impact on around four dozen cities and regions where it is spoken widely. Post-independence much attention was not given to the language and several states where Urdu was a compulsory subject in school curriculum was no more a compulsory subject now.
Click here to join our channel indianexpress and stay updated with the latest headlines. Anju Agnihotri Chaba Home Explained Explained: Why Urdu is an Indian language, not a foreign one Explained: Why Urdu is an Indian language, not a foreign one Urdu debate: Several million in Indian speak this language besides it has great impact on around four dozen cities and regions where it is spoken widely. Illustration by Suvajit Dey Recently Punjab University, Chandigarh, had proposed to merge Department of Urdu language with school of foreign languages to be set up after merging departments of French, Russian, German, Chinese and Tibetan.
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