Is Urdu A Religious Language?

IS URDU A RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE?

A provocative inquiry into the linguistic history of the vernacular of India-Pakistan By: Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

9, July 2009

INTRODUCTION Wherever and whenever a new religion has taken roots in the known human history, there has always been a language in use among that group of people and similarly, a culture associated with that group. When such a movement begins and a new religion starts, a new system is formulated, and new laws are enunciated either by a person who claims to be an apostle or a prophet, or by way of local social forces and prevailing circumstances. Usually the leader(s) speak that language which had been in use in that group of people. In some areas and times such a language had been used for hundreds of years before the advent of the new religion. So, all the documentation of new laws and rules is done in that language. However, as the population base following that religion expands and the followers of that religion migrate to new lands, the rules and laws are transferred to the new languages and new documentation is produced. Usually this change takes place over a number of generations. However, there are two exceptions to that general rule that we have described above, which we will bring to our readers presently. Let us first see some examples in history of the general rule. Christianity began in Bethlehem, a city in Palestine. Jesus Christ was born, raised and had lived among the Jews, a community of which he himself was a member. It has been suggested by historical linguists that the language spoken among those people at that time was Syriac. Some others have opined that it was Aramaic. There is also an opinion that since the language of all religious work in the Judaic society was done in Hebrew, Jesus Christ may actually have spoken his sermons in that language. But nothing is 100% certain in this respect. All such opinions are based on the evidence discovered so far by archaeologists, historical linguists and philologists. Because of the fact that there is no known copy of the Book of Jesus Christ (a part of The New Testament 1) in existence that dates back The New Testament, as we know it, was actually written by the early followers of Jesus Christ many years after the disappearance of Jesus. The document contains sermons and sayings of Jesus Christ. According to the Muslim belief, Jesus Christ had

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to the time of Christ, we are unable to make a statement with any certainty on this. Both Christian as well as Jewish scholars have ascertained that the language spoken by the prophet Moses and his people was Hebrew. This is evident by the fact that there are numerous Hebrew words found in the Old Testament 2 that we read today in the English language. An ancient copy of the five books of the Pentateuch, which includes (according to the Islamic point-of-view) parts of TAWRAAT (the Torah), Zuboor (the Psalms of David) and some other religious documents, is the Vulgate. The Vulgate is written in Latin. An even older copy of the Bible is the Septuagint. This is in the Greek language. The Vulgate 3 is dated to be of the 5th century A.D., while the Septuagint 4 is considered to be of the 3rd century B.C. Reuters news agency has just announced that another ancient Bible known as the Codex Sinaiticus has been completely digitized in its original Greek script after extensive work carried out in the UK, Germany, Egypt and Russia 5. We know for certain that Latin was not the original languages of the Bible. The Jewish and Christian scholarship had maintained that the books of the New Testament Bible were written in Koine Greek. However, there has been a minority group insisting that the New Testament was written in Aramaic. This group has recently increased its presence on the Internet. Friedman6 has identified five different authors and therefore, five different periods during which the Old Testament was compiled. a Book which was revealed to him and it is known as Injeel in the Qur’an. But no such book exists today, in actuality. Incidentally when The New Testament was translated into Arabic, it came to be known as Injeel-e-Muqaddas. I am sure this was an after thought by the Christian Arab translators under the influence of the holy Qur’an. According to the Jewish and Christian scholars the writing of the Divine word or the Bible begins with Moses. According to the Islamic belief, there are five Divine books revealed to the five Great Apostles of God, namely: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. The Books of Noah and Abraham are only identified by the word suhuf, this is a plural for saheefa, meaning a written document. The other three books are identified by names as Tawraat – the book of Moses, Injeel- the book of Jesus and alQur’an the Book of Muhammad. The five books contained laws and were revealed to the five respective Apostles whose job it was to establish the Divine Law on earth among the human society. Each new revelation superseded the previous one, al-Qur’an being the final one. Alongwith the three named books of Laws there is also a fourth Book mentioned by name as Zuboor – the Book of Songs of David. 3 This is the oldest version of Latin Bible that contains the New Testament alongwith the Old Testament. 4 The word means 72 and it points to the fact that so many scholars sat down and collectively produced the work. It is the Koine Greek translation of the original Hebrew Bible. 5 The news was announced on June 6, 2009. For details visit the website: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=14347129&ch=4226714&src=news 2

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Friedman, R.E., Who Wrote The Bible, Harper One, New York, 1997

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Similarly, John Robinson 7 has made a thorough study of the dates of writing of the 27 books of the New Testament. A table of those dates and names of the books contained in both the Old Testament and the New Testament can be found at the website:http://www.carm.org/bible/biblewhen.htm Today the center of Catholic religion is in the Italian city of Vatican. The Pope lives there and all his religious directives are issued from the Vatican in Latin. They are then translated into other languages and sent out to various different countries. The question arises, why Latin? Obviously, there is history behind that. In the year 313 A.D. the Roman Emperor Constantine I decreed that Christianity would be accepted and established as the state religion across the Roman Empire. When Jesus Christ preached his message, Palestine was within the Roman Empire. At that time the Roman authorities had opposed the movement in cahoots with the Jewish establishment and the early Christians were persecuted. However, after three centuries the politics had changed and the once persecuted religion had become the state religion. Therefore, all religious literature had to be translated into Greek (the then official language as well as that of the elite in the Roman Empire), and then later into Latin. Latin was the area language spoken in and around Rome. As the Christians spread across the globe during the two thousand years, Christianity found its new followers in various new geographical areas. Christian teachings including the original Bible were rendered into the languages of those new areas. The Standard English Bible is considered to be the King James’ Version 8. However, in the USA a new American version of the Bible has been produced in the English language. The Catholic Church has kept its religious documentation in Latin. In July 1971, I visited the city of Cologne (Koeln). As I walked up to the raised ancient Cathedral of that city (the one with twin steeples), I noticed that there was a service in progress. To my surprise, that service was being conducted in Latin rather than in German. In juxtaposition to that evolution when we look at the development of the religion of Islam, we notice that the Arabic language had been well established in the Arabian Peninsula some five hundred years before the birth of the Prophet (pbh). The literary Arabic that was spoken in and around the province of Hijaz was the standard language. The word “literary” is a kind of an oxymoron here because that Arabic was purely spoken language – there was no writing. All record was in poetical form and it was preserved in breasts of men that would transfer from generation to generation by a very well established oral tradition – the system of rhyming words and an extensive use of metaphors, allegories,

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Robinson, John A. T., Redating The New Testament, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2000

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The Catholic Bible is different from the King James’ Version

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onomatopoeia and linguistic puns along with music would help the memorization and recital on a large scale. Qur’an is the first “book” in the Arabic language which was preserved as a written document. Qur’an does mention the previous prophets and apostles in reverential terms. Qur’an claims that all the previous prophets preached and propagated the same religion, the Truth from one god, Allah. But there were some differences in times, their respective value systems and particularly the laws. Those differences become significant from a political and social point-of-view when the two civilizations come in contact with each other, especially the attitude of Christians and Muslims towards each other. In recent times two interesting books have come out. One is by a Christian scholar 9 who was at Oxford and the other is by a Muslim scholar 10 who is at Berkeley. The ancient Arabic poetry of the period of Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic) that has reached us shows that the Arabic language had acquired high literary standards by that time. While the holy Qur’an accepted a part of the current Arabic vocabulary, which we see in words such as WAQT, DUA, NIKAH, KITAB and MEERATH; some other words have been accepted in the Qur’an with new meanings, which we see in words such as WAHY, SALAT, ZAKAT, EEMAN, and JANNAT. The relationship of the Arabic language with the religion of Islam is profound and has worked in two ways. All basic principles, laws, rules on morals and ethics as well as the philosophy of the religion are documented in Arabic in which the terminologies and expressions of the 7th century Arab culture are hard to miss. Some of the idioms are so clearly connected to the Arab life-style of that time. For example, we know that the city-dwellers of Makka were traveling businessmen. Many of the verses of the holy Qur’an revealed in Makka have the idiom of selling and buying in them. Very much like a good bargain lets the buyer/seller make a profit, prayers and worship guarantee good rewards in the hereafter. For example see Q.2:207 and Q.31:6. In the city of Madinah, on the other hand, the greater part of the population was farmers. In the Madinan part of the revelation we find that terminology. For example, see Q.2:223 in which one’s women have been equated as one’s own tilth. Once a man has sowed the seeds in his field, he takes care of the filed with his life and protects it with all the power and passion. Once the field is ripe for harvesting, he does it with love and care and also has full control over it. That is how a head of the family should look after his family. The point is, Qur’an spoke to the Arabs in their own terminologies and language with which they were comfortable and thus made the communication that much more effective.

Geoffrey Parrinder, Jesus in the Qur’an, OneWorld Publications, 1995 Hamid Algar, Jesus in the Qur’an: His Reality Expounded in the Qur’an, Islamic Publications International, 1999 9

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Under the influence of the religion, when Urdu came into being, it accepted those Arabic words and idioms in its own vocabulary with those respective meanings. For example, if some one has sacrificed his/her religious values for some worldly and material gain, in Urdu we say:

‫ﻳہ ﺗﻢ ﻧﮯ ﺍﭘﻨﮯ ﺣﻖ ﻣﻴﮟ ﮔﻬﺎﮢﮯ ﮐﺎ ﺳﻮﺩﺍ ﮐﻴﺎ ﮨﮯ۔‬

While the above expression is a reflection of that buying/selling idiom in the Qur’an, the poetry quoted below was composed by the 19th century Lucknow poet named Meer Anis. The poet is describing a scene from the Battle of Karbala where the women in Imam Husayn’s camp are praying for safety and security. The poet is describing the prayer in the speech of Imam Husayn’s sister named Zaynab. The lines are composed in the most eloquent Urdu of Lucknow of that time. Zaynab uses the expression of “the glorious Bano’s tilth” for the family of Imam Husayn. This, obviously, is a reflection of the Qur’anic verse 2:223 that we quoted above.

‫ﺧﻴﻤﮯ ﻣﻴﮟ ﺟﺎ ﮐﮯ ﺷہ ﻧﮯ ﻳہ ﺩﻳﮑﻬﺎ ﺣﺮﻡ ﮐﺎ ﺣﺎﻝ‬ ‫ﭼﮩﺮے ﺗﻮ ﻓﻖ ﮨﻴﮟ ﺍﻭﺭ ﮐُﻬﻠﮯ ﮨﻴﮟ ﺳﺮﻭں ﮐﮯ ﺑﺎﻝ‬ ‫ﺯﻳﻨﺐ ﮐﯽ ﻳہ ﺩﻋﺎ ﮨﮯ ﮐہ ﺍے ﺭﺏ ﺫﻭﺍ ﻟﺠﻼﻝ‬ ‫ﺑﭻ ﺟﺎﺋﮯ ﺍﺱ ﻓﺴﺎﺩ ﺳﮯ ﺧﻴﺮ ﺍ ﻟﻨﺴﺎء ﮐﺎ ﻻﻝ‬ ‫ﺑﺎﻧﻮﺋﮯ ﻧﻴﮏ ﻧﺎﻡ ﮐﯽ ﮐﻬﻴﺘﯽ ﮨﺮی ﺭﮨﮯ‬ ‫ﺻﻨﺪﻝ ﺳﮯ ﻣﺎﻧﮓ ﺑﭽﻮں ﺳﮯ ﮔﻮﺩی ﺑﻬﺮی ﺭﮨﮯ‬ David Matthew’s translation:

The King beheld the women’s piteous state; Their hair hung loose, their faces pale and white. Zainab made a prayer: ‘Oh God Most Great! Save Fatima’s darling in this awful fight. May Bano’s crop be green and fresh with sap; And may she nurse new offspring in her lap 11. 10F

On the other side of the equation, the Arabic language went through some serious changes under the influence of the newly emerging religion. There are numerous examples of that. The prime example is that all nouns in Arabic have a singular, a plural and a dual, as well as both masculine and feminine genders. There is no plural for the word Allah, neither is there a feminine. There was a goddess named AL-LAAT in the pre-Islamic period. But that concept and that word both have been completely dropped from the language. All those words which the holy Qur’an has used for Islamic terminologies, were actually in existence before Islam. They had their meanings and usage. But the Qur’an Matthews, David; The Battle of Karbala, Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 1995, translation of stanza no:43 from the Marsiyya of Meer Anis

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changed that. For example the word EEMAAN ‫ ﺍﻳﻤﺎﻥ‬has been used extensively in the Qur’an. In the Qur’anic terminology it means ‘faith.’ However, it has its lexical meaning. The word is derived from the triliteral root A-M-N which means ‘to be safe and secure.’ The fourth form derivative verbal noun from that root is EEMAAN which means ‘to be at peace within one’s heart and to be fearless.’ All other similar Qur’anic words have their pre-Islamic meanings and usage, such as

‫ ﺣﺪ‬،‫ ﺻﺪﺍﻕ‬،‫ﺭﮐﻮﻉ‬

،‫ ﺯﮐﻮٰﺓ‬،‫ﺻﻠﻮٰﺓ‬

etc.

In the beginning paragraph, we had pointed out two exceptions to the general rule about the relationship between a religion and the language of the progenitors/followers of that religion. The first of those exceptions is the revival of the Hebrew language in the country of Israel; and the second case is that of the evolution of Urdu in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Israel was created as a separate country in the old land of Palestine in 1948. The people of the Judaic faith and practice were scattered all over the world. Once the new country was established, those people began migrating to the new country. Those people came with their respective languages. The problem was to create a new nation-state out of those linguistically diverse people. The leaders of the country decided that the best instrument for that process would be a single language. They revived a language that had been dead for a long time and gave it currency as the state language. The Jewish Rabbis had always memorized some parts of the Torah and the Haggadic literature which they would recite during religious services. So, the old relationship between the Judaic religion and the Hebrew language was revived and a double sentimentality for the language was created among the Jewish population of the country of Israel. Eventhough the Jews of Eastern Europe had created a language of their own which is known as Yiddish, the Jews living in the new country made Hebrew their national identity. Not only that, the local Jewish population, though very small in number, who had been Arabic speaking, they too accepted Hebrew as their new national language. THE RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION OF URDU The story of the development of the Urdu language in India is also a very interesting one. Arabs had always been avid travellers and seafarers. They would travel by land towards the north into the countries of the Byzantium. They would also sail on business trips from the port of Aden and from other ports of the Persian Gulf to the Indus delta and all the way up to China. The holy Qur’an has briefly touched upon this in Sura Quraysh. Islam spread from Arabia proper to Iraq and Iran very quickly. That old tradition of travel and sea-faring continued all the

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same. Turko-Iranian and Afghani warriors began attacking other countries in the name of spreading Islam to the four corners of the earth. As communities of Muslims established themselves in the new countries experts belonging to various arts and professions also began arriving in the new areas. Another type of people who came to new areas and settled were the holy men, the Sufis. These three communities, the soldiers, the business people and the proselytizers, all had one common need and a basic need --- the need to be able to communicate with the local indigenous population. Thus the coming together of two cultures gave rise to a new language in northern areas of the Indian sub-continent. While the desire existed on both sides of the cultural divide to be able to communicate with the other side, the cultural clash between the two was there all the same. And we will have to accept that the cultural clash was based on the religious differences. A natural consequence of that was that religious literature in Urdu began to be produced from dayone of its very inception. The authors of the book Cambridge History of Islam have dedicated one whole chapter on Urdu in their book. Their rationale in including that chapter is that the sole cause of the evolution of the new language in India was the arrival of Muslims. The new arriving Muslim settlers needed a language so that they could communicate with the local population in India – a language that would be equally understandable to both of them. This statement is often repeated among the academic elite as a matter of fact. However, if we consider the activities of the Sufi temples and shrines that began sprouting up across the country from as early a period as the tenth century, we can see very clearly that the process of the evolution of the new language had yet another force working for it. Let us quote a passage from: http://india_resource.tripod.com/sufi.html For any civilization to blossom, there has to be a certain intellectual and cultural space that is relatively free from dogma and hidebound traditions. In the earliest examples of the Islamic courts, particularly during the reign of the Abbasids in Baghdad, there was an informal separation of church and state and Arab civilization was able to make important gains , drawing inputs from a variety of eclectic sources - both indigenous and external (such as Indian and Mediterranean). But once the paramountcy of the Qur’an and the Shari’at laws began to be more strictly enforced - the Islamic courts needed some alternate current to prevent the newly established Islamic societies from slipping into the dark ages as had occurred in the Christian kingdoms of early medieval Europe. Sufism thus emerged as a protestant and liberalizing current, that eventually became the primary vehicle for intellectual advance and the dissemination of culture in societies governed by Islamic sovereigns. Sufi currents were essential in easing the transition from the earlier Hindu, Buddhist, Judaic, Christian, Manichean, and Zoroastrian societies that had existed prior to the victory of the Islamic conquerors. Sufism provided a way to reconcile some of the religious doctrines of these earlier

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cultural and/or religious systems. Sufi scholars went to great lengths in establishing a sense of continuity and evolution amongst the various revealed faiths - such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In helping to reconcile formally differing beliefs amongst Christians, Manicheans, Jews, and Muslims, the Sufis were instrumental in limiting political tensions and in facilitating a modicum of social peace and stability. This type of work was not inimical to the political interests of the Islamic conquerors and was generally tolerated, although often, Sufi scholars had to take great pains to reassure the orthodox Ulema that their scholarly treatises were not inconsistent with the worldview of Islam. Kalabadhi (10th C, Bukhara), author of the Taaruf, and Persian scholar Hujwiri (11th C), author of the Kashf, attempted to situate their work within the broad contours of Islamic tradition. Hujwiri suggested that there was a place for high culture and spiritual development apart from the following of religious rules. Although, equally, he emphasized that he was not challenging or rejecting anything contained in the Qur’an.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- end quote The Sufi shrines and temples thus established began attracting a steady stream of faithful visitors. These visitors belonged to various different linguistic, cultural and religious backgrounds. They freely communicated with each other – a natural instinct among the Homo Sapien, irrespective of colour and creed. The Sufis, on the other hand, felt the need to translate Islamic teachings into the local languages. Thus a mix of languages became current in such gatherings. These Sufis, who were mainly Farsi-speaking, felt a two-fold need to document their teachings in the new language. They realized that their teachings had to be easily understood by the locals. They also realized that their future generations would not remain Farsi-speaking. So, to preserve the Islamic teachings for their own future generations they began producing religious literature in the new language. Mawlana Muhammad Husayn Azad has cited (in his AAB-EHAYAAT) the first Urdu translation of the holy Qur’an by Shah Abdul Qadir and has given its date of publication as 1807 A.D. I have seen a copy of this work. In the preface to this book the author has said: “We are writing this TAFSEER in the Hindi language.” It is obvious from this quote, since the entire work is printed in Urdu-Nasta’aleeq script that even during the 19th century the new language was being called HINDI rather than URDU. Of course, the word HINDI itself is a Farsi word coined by the newcomer Muslims in India for the new language. The word simply means “of Hind.” However, the process of producing religious literature in Hindi/Urdu had begun a long time before that date. That brings us back to the original question: When did Urdu begin as a language of the people of India? Not surprisingly, scholars have differed on this. Here is a sample of opinions. Nuqoosh, Lahore had published an article in its ADABI MAARKE NUMBER. The heading of the article is: URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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‫ﺍُﺭﺩﻭ ﮐﻴﻮں ﺍﻭﺭ ﮐﮩﺎں ﭘﻴﺪﺍ ﮨﻮﺋﯽ‬

Urdu kiyon awr kahan payda hui

Muhammad Husayn Azad has asserted in his AAB-E-HAYAAT that Urdu was built on the base of Braj Bhasha. That implies that the process began on the shores of the Yamuna River in and around Agra. Hafiz Mahmoud Shirani is of the opinion that Urdu’s beginning is rooted in the bazaars of Punjab when in 1027 A.D. Mahmood Ghaznavi descended on that area with his Afghan hordes. Professor Naseer-ud-Deen Hashmi is of the opinion that Urdu began in South India. We will elaborate upon this view presently. A fourth view is that Urdu began in the province of Sind. This last view is based on the fact that the Muslim Armies under the command of Muhammad bin Qasim had landed at the port city of Deebal 12 at the Indus Delta in 712 A.D. According to the historian Farishteh, Muhammad bin Qasim had arrived in Sind on his expedition with a 6,000 strong Syrian army leaving Shiraz and passing through Mekran via the land route. The influence of the Arabic language, which was the language of these early Muslim invaders, had lasting effect on the local language. Today’s Sindhi language is written (right to left 13) in a set of alphabets which is a modified set of the 27 original Arabic letters. 1F

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AMIR KHUSRO, HIS TIMES AND HIS WORKS If we go through the oral tradition as well as documentation, the first traces of a language that could be seen as akin to modern Urdu is found in Amir Kusro’s poetry. Amir Khusro had lived in Delhi during the period 1253-1325 A.D. In actuality Khusro was a genius in fine arts. He wrote Farsi Ghazal as well as other poetry in local dialects (both Avadhi as well as Braj Bhasha) that were current in the area. He also produced music. He is the progenitor of raga Ayman. He is also a contemporary of the great saint of Delhi known as Nizam-ud-Deen Awliyya. Khusro wrote songs of praise for Nizam-ud-Deen in the dialect of Braj Bhasha. See the samples below. The first poem is all in Braj Bhasha. It has been transcribed in Devnagari as well as in Nasta’aleeq for line-to-line comparison. The next row gives transliteration in English on the left and the translation on the right.

Haig, Malcolm Robert : The Indus Delta Country: A Memoir, Chiefly on Its Ancient Geography and History, first published from London in 1894. A copy of this book can be viewed at the University of Michigan website: 12

As opposed to all other North Indian languages belonging to the Proto-IndoEuropean family which are written from left to right

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बहुत क�ठन है डगर पनघट क� कैसे म� भर लाऊं मधुवा से मटक�

‫ﺑﮩﺖ ﮐﮣﻬﻦ ﮨﮯ ڈﮔﺮ پﻧﮕﻬﭧ ﮐﯽ‬ ‫ﮐﻴﺴﮯ ﻣﻴﮟ ﺑﻬﺮ ﻻﺋﻮں ﻣﺪﻫﻮﺍ ﺳﮯ ﻣﮣﮑﯽ‬

पिनया भरण को जो म� गई थी

‫ﭘﻨﻴﺎ ﺑﻬﺮﻥ ﮐﻮ ﺟﻮ ﻣﻴﮟ ﮔﺌﯽ ﺗﻬﯽ‬

दौड़ झपट मोर� मटक� फटक�

‫ﺩﻭڑ ﺟﻬﭙﭧ ﻣﻮﺭی ﻣﮣﮑﯽ ﭘﻬﮣﮑﯽ‬ ‫ﺑﮩﺖ ﮐﮣﻬﻦ ﮨﮯ ڈﮔﺮ ﭘﻨﮕﻬﭧ ﮐﯽ‬

बहुत क�ठन है डगर पनघट क� खुसरो िनजाम के बल बल जाईऐ लाज रखो मोरे घूँघट पट क�

‫ﺧﺴﺮﻭ ﻧﺠﺎﻡ ﮐﮯ ﺑﻞ ﺑﻞ ﺟﺎﺋﻴﮯ‬ ‫ﻻﺝ ﺭﮐﻬﻮ ﻣﻮﺭے ﮔﻬﻮﻧﮕﻬﭧ ﭘﭧ ﮐﯽ‬ ‫ﻣﻮﺭے ﺍﭼﻬﮯ ﻧِﺠﺎﻡ ﭘﻴﺎ ﺟﯽ‬

मोरे अच्छ िनजाम �पया जी

‫ﺑﮩﺖ ﮐﮣﻬﻦ ﮨﮯ ڈﮔﺮ ﭘﻨﮕﻬﭧ ﮐﯽ‬

बहुत क�ठन है डगर पनघट क� bahut Ka.Thin hai Dagar pangha.T ki, kaisay main bhar laaun madhva say ma.Tki? paniya bharan ko main jo gayi thi, dau.R jhapa.T mori ma.Tki pha.Tki. bahut ka.Thin hai Dagar pangha.T ki. Khusrau Nijaam ke bal bal jayyiye laaj rakho moray ghoongha.T pa.T ki.

The road to the Well is much too difficult, (I do not know) How to get my pot filled? When I went to fill the water-pot, In the furor, I broke my pot. Khusrau ! May you be the ransom time and again, Oh, Nijam. Would you please take care of my veil (or self respect),

more achey Nijam Piya ji bahut ka.Thin hai Dagar pangha.T ki.

My dear Nijam, The road to the well is much too difficult.

The most interesting work of poetry that Khusro produced is the one where he mixes so artfully his Farsi she’r with Braj, Avadhi and Khari Boli poetry. Of course, poetry is a thing for recital more than writing. See the following couplet by Khusro: Khusro dariya prem ka ulti va ki dhaar ‫ﺩﻫﺂﺭ‬

‫ﺧُﺴﺮﻭ ﺩﺭﻳﺎ ﭘﺮﻳﻢ ﮐﺎ ﺍُﻟﮣﯽ ﻭﺍﮐﯽ‬ Jo utra so doob gaya, jo dooba so paar‫ﺟﻮ ﺍُﺗﺮﺍ ﺳﻮ ڈﻭﺏ ﮔﻴﺎ ﺟﻮ ڈﻭﺑﺎ ﺳﻮ ﭘﺎﺭ‬ Trans: Khusro, the river of love flows backwards; anyone who enters it is drowned, and the one who drowned came ashore. URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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Consider Khusro’s vocabulary here: Dariya = Farsi word which actually means an ocean Va ki = this is from Braj Bhasha, in Khari Boli it will become uski Utra, dooba, doob gaya = the verb endings of long ‘a’ in these words indicate that they are all from Khari Boli 14 Khusro had called his language as Hindavi. In this couplet he is expressing the very standard and profound Sufi thought. Anyone who is out to seek his(her) Lord has to lose himself(herself) in that process. It is only after one has totally lost his(her) self in that search that one finds the Lord-Creator. Nizam-ud-Deen Awliyya died in the same year as Khusro (1325). Khusro’s poetry is profoundly influenced by the teachings of Nizam-udDeen. This is what we have been arguing in this article that the evolving language that we now know as Urdu has a long history of Sufi influence in it. Anyone who has read Khusro’s work would be rightly justified in assuming that the Urdu’s sapling germinated in and around Delhi and flourished there. It would also be logically correct to assume that since Urdu is a language in the PIE 15 group of languages and the PIE languages have traditionally flourished in the northern part of the subcontinent. However, we shall see presently that Urdu’s young sapling did not take roots in and around Delhi. In fact it took roots in the Deccan, an area of Dravidian influences. It did in later years spread across northern India, though. There were many reasons for that which we will discuss presently. According to Ahsan Marharvi in his book titled: Tareekh-e-Nasr-e-Urdu, the main reason for that was the event of shifting the capital of the Sultanate from Delhi to Daulatabad, a city in the Deccan, south India 16.

There are three basic vowels in the spoken word, a, i, u. All other vowels are variations on these three. Urdu has borrowed its vowels from Khari Boli and they are ten in number. Each verb has to end in one of the three basic vowel sounds. Braj Bhasha verb endings are in ‘u,’ Khari Boli endings are in ‘a’ and those in Bundel Khandi dialect are in ‘i.’ The reason that KHARI BOLI (standing or upright speech) is called as such, is because in both the DEVNAGRI as well as in the NAST’ALEEQ script the long vowel ‘a’ is depicted by a vertical line – an upright standing line. For greater technical details on vowels, see: McGregor, Outline of Hindi Grammar, O.U.P., Delhi, 1972 15 Proto-Indo-European family of languages 16 This was done by Muhammad Tughlaq. Muhammad Tughlaq’s reign begins in Delhi the same year in which both Khusro and Nizam-ud-Deen Awliyya had passed away. Marharvi’s book can be seen at the website: www.deedahwar.com 14

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At this point we present a summary of the history of the Muslim rule in the Deccan. Arabs used to sail from both the Arabian coasts in the Persian Gulf, from Aden as well as the Egyptians from Alexandria to the western coastal cities of India. Their main stop used to be at Kerala due to the active growth of spices in that region. The Arabs were merchandisers and it was good business to buy and sell spices. There are reports that many Arabs had settled down in Kerala long before Islam. It is reported that Kerala was the first outpost of Arab Muslim early in the 7th century. One name that is found in the Malyalam chronicles is that of Malik ibn Deenar. There is also a mosque in Kerala dedicated to Malik. It is not certain what was the exact time of Malik 17. Was he a companion of the Prophet? Some Malyalam chronicles date his coming to the Malbar coast in the year 644 A.D That date, obviously is 12 years after the passing My research on the life and times of Malik bin Deenar is not completed yet. As soon as I get that information I will supplement this text accordingly.

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away of the Prophet. Some other reports suggest that one of the Malyalam kings actually became Muslim and proceeded to Hajj. During that Hajj he is reported to have met with the Prophet of Islam. That does not sound credible. However, that first Muslim settlement in the south western part of India did not seem to have an impact on the region either linguistically or culturally. The first real contact of Muslims with the Indian subcontinent is accepted to be the invasion of the province of Sind by Muhammad bin Qasim. We said: ‘the first real contact’ because it is this beginning of the Muslim culture in India which had left an indelible mark both culturally as well as linguistically on the sub-continent. Then there is a series of such invasions in the Peshawar area and beyond up to Delhi. We discuss those a little later. Some Muslim conquerors, who came to Delhi via Punjab, did not stay there. Instead they moved on to the southern provinces of the subcontinent and established themselves in that part of the subcontinent. In the 14th century two sizable kingdoms were established in the Deccan, one was the Bahmani Sultanate of Bijapur and the other was the Qutub-Shahi Kingdom of Golcunda. In 1347 the Turkish military ruler named Ala-ud-deen Bahman Shah established the greater Bahmani Sultanate of Bijapur. This Sultanate extended from the shores of Bay of Bengal in the East (today’s Chenai or Madras)) all the way to the shores of Arabian Sea (today’s Maharashtra and Bombay). Its northern limits began at the foot of the Vindhyachal to the center of the triangle of the peninsula in the south (including Karnatak). The capital of the Bahmani kingdom was in Bidar, which in those times was known as Muhammadabad. That Sultanate flourished for the good part of two hundred years. The Sultanate began to weaken in the early parts of the 16th century and finally it broke up into smaller parts. In 1490 Berar broke off and became an independent state. The capital city of Bidar became an independent kingdom in 1518. About the same time Sultan Quli Qutub al-Mulk established the Qutub Shahi kingdom at Golcunda. This is the same area where the modern day city of Hyderabad is located. The ancient fort of Golcunda is located some eleven kilometers outside of the city of Hyderabad. This was the most powerful kingdom in the Deccan and it lasted for 171 years. The Mughal king Aurangzeb conquered it in 1687. The fifth king of that kingdom known as Quli Qutub Shah is considered to be the first Urdu poet who had his own Deevan 18.

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A documented collection of poetry

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BAHMANI KINGDOM OF THE DECCAN IN INDIA On the other side, Ahmad Nizam Shah had established the Nizam Shahi kingdom at Ahmadnagar in 1494. The city of Ahmadnagar still exists today with that name in the province of Maharashtra in India which has a majority Muslim population. It was at Ahmadnagar that an illustrious woman regent named Chand Bibi had ruled for ten years(1580-90). During her reign as regent, the Mughal king Akbar had attacked Bijapur which was successfully repulsed under the leadership of Chand Bibi.

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After the break up of the greater Bahmani Kingdom, Ibrahim Adil Shah established the Adil-Shahi Sultanate at Bijapur in 1527 which lasted until 1686 19 Fine arts, literature and architecture flourished during all the Deccan kingdoms. As we pointed out, Quli Qutub Shah wrote poetry, specifically Marsiyya for the martyrs of Karbala. He used the most popular language of his time that was understood by the Telgu-speaking indigenous people as well as by the Muslim settlers. He thus introduced Islam and particularly a loving and passionate portrait of the Prophet of Islam and his family to the local population. Chand Bibi, in spite of being a woman regent, knew Arabic, Farsi, Turkish as well as Telgu and Tamil languages and she had a great presence among her subjects – most of whom were Dravidian Hindus. So we can see that the society in Deccan was evolving on a very pluralistic platform – pluralism that was rooted in the popular language. Why was it that the Delhi kings could not do anything to strengthen the development of the language during the 14th and 15th centuries in spite of the fact that Khusro had started his work on the language in Delhi as early as the 1300s? As opposed to that the kings in the Deccan were able to popularize the language. The main reason as we stated above, was the fact that the Delhi Sultans and conquerors were much too busy in the palace intrigues, killings and lootings in the area to establish their own rule. They were neither inclined to any work on language nor did they have the time. It is quite clear from these historical facts that the kings who established themselves in the Deccan were made of a different human material and their preferences in life were different than those of the Delhi kings. Not only did they write poetry in the new vernacular that was developing in the area, they chose a dialect that was easily understood by all classes of people in the society and they also chose topics for their poetry which appealed to every class and every section of the society.

THE BEGINNING OF THE SUFIS IN INDIA Nearly a hundred years before the time of Khusro and Nizam-udDeen, another Sufi of great piety and knowledge had come to India and had settled in Rajasthan. Khwaja Mu’een-Ud-Deen Chishti was born in 1142 in Seestan, Iran. He had moved through (today’s) Afghanistan and after a short stay first in Lahore and then in Delhi, he had moved to Rajasthan and had settled down in Ajmer where he passed away in 1236 A.D. So after his death his place of burial in Ajmer became a place of pilgrimage for Hindus and Muslims alike. That was because of his Brief history of the Deccan kingdoms taken from McLeod, John; The History of India, Greenwood Press, 2002, pp. 46-47 19

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teachings which were based on pluralism, tolerance and love for the universal human brotherhood. It is likely that by the mixing of the Muslim immigrants. and the indigenous Hindu population at that shrine a mixed spoken language developed in that area. It is also likely that that spoken language spread out into other neighbouring areas. There are many other Sufi saints who came to India and had settled in different parts of the country. Many of those are nameless local saints whose gravesites are adorned by local people where they go to show their devotion and gratitude for their fulfilled wishes and vows 20.

SOUTH INDIA AND AJMER IN RAJASTHAN Within a century or so of Khwaja Muinuddin Hasan Sijzi 21 establishing a Khanqah 22 at Ajmer, the cultural landscape of the subcontinent came to be dominated by a large number of khanqahs tracing their lineage from the

See for example: Russell, Ralph, Islam in A Pakistan Village: Some Impressions, article in his book – How Not to Write a History of Urdu Literature, O.U.P., 1999 21 This is the same person whom we have identified above as Mueen-ud-Deen Chishti 22 A Sufi temple 20

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great Shaikh and his successors. Centers of other Sufi silsilas 23 did emerge, but it was rare to see any of them acquiring a long-lasting a status in its respective area as most of the Chishti khanqahs came to command. This initial phenomenal success is often explained in terms of the cosmopolitanism of the Chishtis and their ability to identify themselves with the concerns of the masses, rather than with only those of the elite or ruling classes. At the same time, one can notice a tendency to reject the religious exclusivism and the narrow limits set out by the jurists. These early Chishtis seldom practised adherence to a particular school of law. Enough data exists from various Chishtis centers in northern and southern India to enable a bold generalization on the issue of religious plurality…… 24

At this point let us have a brief overview of the history of Muslim raids and conquests in the Punjab and Delhi. In 997 AD Mahmoud Ghaznavi had established himself as the ruler of Ghazni. Mahmoud was a Perso-Turk from his father’s side as well as from his mother’s side. His father was Subuktageen of Ghazni and his mother’s father was Alaptageen. He attacked the Gandhara kingdom around Peshawar in 1000 A.D. He then attacked Multan which was at that time under the control of the Ismaili Fatimi rulers. That endeared him to the Abbasi rulers in Baghdad. From then on he ravaged the North Indian kingdoms every year, in the name of Islam, destroying temples and looting their wealth all the way up to Gujrat. This continued until the year of his death, that was 1030 A.D 25. Mahmoud Ghaznavi is the first Muslim conqueror who had coined himself as Sultan. Mahmoud is a unique commander who is rated alongside Alexander the Great, in that he was never defeated on the battlefield by any enemy. His character is though, controversial in history. The first conqueror who actually established a Muslim kingdom in Punjab and up to Delhi is Muhammad Ghawri. He too came from Ghazni and defeated Prithivi Raj Chawhan whose kingdom had extended from Delhi to Rajasthan. This was in 1173 A.D. It was around this time or sometime soon after that Khwaja Mu’een-Ud-Deen Chishti had arrived in India. That also explains why the Khwaja proceeded all the way to Ajmer. He wanted to take his message to the farthest end of the Muslim Sultanate. Muhammad Ghawri had no children of his own. Although he himself was an Afghan, his contingent was full of Turk soldiers. Ghawri had treated his soldiers like his own sons. After him the kingdom of Delhi passed to those soldiers. The most prominent among them were Sultan Qutub-ud-Deen Aybak, Sultan Iltutmash and his daughter Razia The word means ‘a chain,’ and it is used in Sufi terminology to indicate the four lineages 24 Jafri, Syed Zaheer Husain, Religious Plurality in the Chishti Tradition, article in Malik and Reifeld, p.221-222 25 Kulke, Herman and Rothermund, Dietmar; A History of India, Routledge, 2004, pp.163-165 23

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Sultan. According to John Mcleod 26, Delhi, which had been an economic and communications center in North India but it was a never the capital of any state. It was Sultan Iltutmash who established Delhi as the capital of his Sultanate first time in history of India. The city’s glory and its importance as the capital of India has never waned since. This dynasty of Turk Sultanate was threatened first by the Mongols. However, Kulke and Rothermund have paid rich tribute to Iltutmash for resisting the Mongol invasion and holding his ground. Not only that, but actually for establishing the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 against those odds, while the rest of Central and South Asia had succumbed to the Mongol onslaught 27. And then it was replaced by the Balbans. Another Afghani Commander named Jalal-ud-Deen Khilji took over the Delhi Sultanate in1290 A.D. Jalal-ud-Deen was a very kind ruler. His nephew, Ala-ud-Deen conspired against him and had him assassinated by trickery. He then took over the Sultanate for himself. Ala-ud-Deen extended his kingdom and he could be called the first Muslim king of India. Ala-ud-Deen’s rule is marked with conquests, but also with extensive ravaging of Hindu temples and the erecting of mosques in place of those destroyed Hindu temples. The signs of that destruction and reconstruction can be found all the way from Gujrat to Benaras. According to one report, Ala-ud-Deen Khilji had attacked the fort of Chittawr in 1303 AD at the head of a huge army, reportedly lusting for a Rajput princess named Padmani. While the Rajput young men came out of the fort with a vow to fight till death, when the princess saw how hopeless the cause was, she along with other 700 women gave herself up to the flames of JAWHAR. This was an old Rajput tradition that women would die rather than allow a “dirty infidel 28” to touch them. The Khilji dynasty came to an end in 1316. In 1321 Giyas-ud-Deen Tughlaq established the Tughlaq kingdom at Delhi. In 1325 Muhammad Tughlaq came to rule the Delhi Sultanate after Ghiyas-ud-Deen. This is the same year when both Amir Khusro and Nizam-ud-Deen Awliyya passed away in Delhi. Muhamamd Tughlaq was an eccenetric. He took the unwise decision to move the capital of the kingdom from Delhi to Dawlatabad in the Deccan. Hundreds of people died during the move due to bad logistics. Muhamamd Tughlaq had appointed Ala-ud-Din Bahman, another Turkic commander, as his governor in the Bijapur district. It was this same governor 29 who declared his own rule at Bijapur McLeod, John; The History of India, Greenwood Press, 2002, p. 35 Kulke, Herman and Rothermund, Dietmar; A History of India, Routledge, 2004, p.168 28 That is how early Muslim warriors and rulers came to be identified among the indigenous Hindu population. There are references in the existing Hindi poetry to such epithets. 29 Stein has mentioned his name as Zafar Khan, see Stein, Burton; A History of India, Wiley-Blackwell, 1998, p. 151 26 27

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and had established the greater Bahmani Kingdom in 1347, as we have explained above 30. Towards the 1390s the Tughlaq kingdom was showing weaknesses and finally it came to its end in 1398. The main cause and the trigger event for that was the disastrous invasion of North India by Timur the Lame 31. His armies ravaged the city of Delhi for three days, killing people indiscriminately and looting property 32. Order was restored by an Afghan commander named Afghan Khizr Khan after ten years of chaotic rule at Delhi. This was the beginning of the Syed Dynasty of the Lodhis at Delhi. The Lodhi dynasty of Delhi began in 1414 AD which lasted for over a century. Sikandar Lodhi, who ruled during 1489-1517, moved the capital of the Sultanate from Delhi to Agra 33, where it would remain until the middle of the Mughal period. Babur establishes the beginnings of the Mughal kingdom at Delhi by defeating Ibraheem Lodhi in 1526. As we can see from this brief overview, on the one side there was all that invasion by foreign raiders, palace intrigue, killing and looting going around Punjab and Delhi; on the other side Muslim Sufis were coming to India and settling down in various parts of the country spreading their message of love, tolerance, pluralism and of course, Islamic values. Both those forces working in parallel had influenced the evolution of Urdu. The fighting soldiers and conquerors were imbued with a militant philosophy of Islam and believed in forcing their way into other people’s life-style to spread Islam in the world. This was the force propagating an exclusivist-elitist thinking. The Sufis on the other hand were motivated by the universal human brotherhood – also a factor in Islamic philosophy and actually an inclusivist attitude. Their message gave rise to a very strong current of pluralism, tolerance and love in the society where Urdu was evolving. It was fortunate for the new language to have not been associated with the early conquerors in any big way. They all used the language nevertheless, but they were not in a position to influence the language in its natural evolution. Urdu was not blessed with any support from any king’s court until first, in the Muslim kingdoms established during the 14th century in the southern areas of India, the Deccan, and then in the 19th century at the declining Mughal Court of Delhi. By that time the Sufis’ message and influence had already made its mark on the language. This language had evolved by way of people of different religious and cultural backgrounds mixing together freely, albeit in a religious ambience inside Sufi shrines. McLeod, p. 46 In typical Eastern chronicles he is known as Timur Lung, the Anglicised name is Tamerlane 32 McLeod, pp.38 33 Ibid. pp. 39 30

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However, the military adventures (or misadventures) of the Ghaznavis and the Khlijis and their like did damage the cause of Urdu to a great extent. Eventhough these raiders and conquerors were fighting in the name of Islam, a cause they much needed to arouse the fervour of their own soldiers, they were far removed from the true spirit of Islam. The comment made in the quotation below is only an academic observation and a very recent one. Furthermore, the main reason for religious wars appear to have been not so much animosity between the religions themselves but rather the obsession with, or the thirst for, power on the part of individuals and human groups (realms, dynasties and nations) where religion has been used in order to satisfy personal and collective ambition. With regard, finally, to contemporary conflicts, information must be checked carefully and critically, before it is simply ascribed to religious motivations. 34

At the popular level that fine point was difficult to be understood. The large majority of the Hindu population could not separate the looting and plunder done by the Muslim soldiers under the command of the Ghaznavis and the Khiljis from the evolution of the Urdu language, which to them was purely a Muslim language. The Muslims of India were seen and are still seen as the heirs of the Ghaznavis and the Khiljis of the past centuries. That has undermined the work done on pluralism by the Sufis. As a consequence it has been hurting the cause of Urdu as a language of the masses. That is in addition to the ongoing sectarian conflict between the two communities in India that has lasted to this day. PLURALISM IN URDU In spite of that strong conflict, Urdu did grow and evolve in a very pluralistic culture. As Muslim settlements began appearing in almost every part of the subcontinent a system of communication, cultural exchange in the form of attending each other’s festivals, weddings and other social events as well as business transactions did give rise to understanding and sympathy at an extensive scale. The Sufis played a very important part in that process. Of course, a common language played yet a greater role in that process. Let us bring some specific and concrete examples to support our views here. Consider the word JAWHAR as used in the paragraph above. How did this terminology become current among the Rajput rulers of Rajhastan? The tradition of the women burning themselves to death rather than surrendering their selves to a Muslim invader must be

Troll, Christian W., Plurality of Religion and Plurality in Religion, in Malik and Reifeld, Religious Pluralism In South Asia and Europe, O.U.P., New Delhi, 2005, p.83 34

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inherently Rajput 35. But where did the name JAWHAR KI JWALA come from? The word JWALA is of Sanskrit origin. But JAWHAR 36 is an Arabic word which is variably translated as ‘the essence,’ ‘mettle,’ ‘jewel’ and the such like. This was the time when the Rajputs had been fighting the Muslim invaders. How could they accept the hated invader’s language to define one of their own traditions? Our contention is that such language became current and was accepted in the vernacular only because of the influence of the Sufi saints who had settled in the area. By the time Ala-ud-Deen Khilji attacked the fort of Chittawr, three generations had passed after the settlement of the Chishti Dargah at Ajmer. Chittawr is located in the province of Mewar (a part of larger Rajhastan) some 150 miles south from Ajmer. Another Rajput princess named Mira Bai was born in 1498 AD in a town named Kurkhi which is located some 12 miles south of Ajmer. By that time three centuries had passed since the settlement of the Ajmer shrine. It is very likely that the stream of devotees visiting the shrine had multiplied; not only that but new shanty towns must have come about around the general area of the shrine. These visitors belonged to various different classes of people and they used a mixed vernacular. That spoken language had even filtered inside the Rajput palaces. Mira Bai was married to another prince in the area. She was widowed young. Soon after the death of her husband, she declared herself to be a devotee of Lord Krishna. She wrote poetry and sang those songs of devotion openly. She became a JOGAN 37 and wandered around singing her songs of devotion. It is not unlikely that she had visited the shrine at Ajmer and spent time there. Let us look at some of her poetry: पितयाँ म� कैसे िलखूं िलख्योर न जाए

कलम धरत मेरो कर कम्प है नैन रहे झड़ लाए

‫ﭘﺘﻴﺎں ﻣﻴﮟ ﮐﻴﺴﮯ ﻟﮑﻬﻮں؟‬ ‫ﻟﮑﻬﻴﻮ ﺭی ﻧہ ﺟﺎﺋﮯ‬ ‫ﮐﻠﻢ ﺩﻫﺮﺕ ﻣِﺮﻭ ﮐﺮ ﮐﻤﭙﺖ ﮨﮯ‬ ‫ﻧﻴﻦ ﺭﮨﮯ ﺟﻬﮍ ﻻﺋﮯ‬

Patiya.N mai.N kayse likhu.N Likhyo ri na ja’e Kalam dharat mero kar kampat hai Please note that the concept of SATI, or the widow burning herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband is totally different from this. 36 I am grateful to our learned friend, C.M.Naim, for pointing out that the word JAWHAR could be a variant of JIV-HARAN which means suicide. It is very plausible that the RAjput women would jump in fire anticipating the killing of their own men in battle field, and that would be another form of the tradition of SATI. 37 Hindi/Urdu word for a woman saint who wanders from place to place 35

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Nayn rahe jha.R la’e Trans: how may I write a letter, I cannot, When I pick up the pen, my hand trembles, And my eyes begin shedding tears. The interesting word here is ‘kalam,’ another purely Arabic word 38. The influence of the local dialect is very apparent. The soft guttural Arabic sound has been replaced by the Sanskritic ‘K.’ In the larger part of India, this word is extensively used and it is pronounced as depicted here. This is not an isolated instance. Mira’s poetry is replete with words such as ‘mahal’ (Arabic for palace), ‘awaaz’ (Farsi for voices), and ‘taraaja’ (a distortion of the Arabic Taraazu with the ‘z’ sound replaced by the Sanskrit ‘j’). We will quote some more examples of Meera Bai’s poetry presently. How were the proud Rajputs accepting the language of their avowed enemies? Not only that, how was this language seeping through indoors to the women folk? We have to accept that this new vernacular had been taking shape naturally without any force or pressure from the conquerors. Keeping this model in view, I am going to make yet another claim. It is very likely, actually strongly likely that such groups of mixed people had come about in many other parts of India and in all those groups a mixed spoken language like that of Meera Bai’s was developing. Now we have lost the actual hard evidence to that in history, but the circumstantial evidence is there. All such groups with their own newly developed dialects were instrumental in the shaping of a new vernacular in Northern India which we now know as Urdu. As we quoted above, every province of North India is claiming to be the original home of Urdu. I do not consider this to be a clash of opinions and views. This only goes to show the intra-country universality of the language.

The word in Arabic means ‘to cut,’ ‘to trim,’ or ‘to prune.’ In the olden days pens were made out of reed. The reed would be cut into a manageable size then its end would be trimmed into a flat and thin point which would be trimmed to make a nib-like end for writing. The English word ‘pen’ is derived from the Latin ‘penna’ which means ‘a feather.’ That is because in Europe writing was done with a quill, which was made by trimming the hollow shaft at the end of a bird’s feather. The original P.I.E. speakers must have had a word for ‘pen’ which is now lost. It is interesting that the Indian languages have also lost that word and they are extensively using the Arabic ‘qalam’ for it. 38

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THE 20TH CENTURY LANGUAGE POLITICS IN INDIA The Indian nationalist leader named M.K.Gandhi had returned to India in 1916 from South Africa after he had campaigned in that country very successfully for the rights of the people of Indian descent. The Congress party had already been formed and the Indian Independence Movement was visible. A part of that movement was the new poetry that had emerged in India. Before we go into that topic let us follow the time line a little further. Before the arrival of M.K. Gandhi on the Indian political scene, the Congress Party had a very pluralistic and secular outlook and the party’s structure was also based on the pluralism that was a part of the Indian social milieu. The party was actually formed in 1885 on the suggestion of a British civil servant named Allan Octavian Hume. The main purpose and aim of the party was to create a forum for dialogue between the British Government and the educated Indian elite. In the early days there were such people at the helm of the party as Dada Bhai Naoroji (a Parsi) and a secularist. M.A. Jinnah had admired Naoroji from his student days in London when Naoroji had stood in elections for a seat in the British Parliament and had won it. There was though a very strong lobby of Hindu nationalists in the Party from the earliest days. When the party took its political character those colours became very apparent. Muslim leaders such as Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who had a keen eye for such movements, had seen it earlier on and had looked at the Congress Party with suspicion. Jinnah himself was a secularist and he was hailed as the ‘apostle of Hindu-Muslim unity’ by a colleague. He therefore joined the Congress Party in 1896, right after his return from England and becoming a barrister. Sir Syed passed away in 1899 when Jinnah was a young practicing lawyer in Bombay and also active in politics. However, during his lifetime Sir Syed had made the momentous announcement urging the Muslims of India to accept and declare Urdu as their national language. All indications were that Urdu had become the lingua franca of the larger Indian population and it was freely accepted by Indians of all classes and interest groups. In 1906, when the Muslim League was formed, Jinnah refused to join it saying that it was much too religion-oriented. However, there were factions showing up in the ranks of the Congress Party. There were some among the leadership cadres who were looking to a very strong Hindu-nationalist stamp on the party. The name of Bal Gangadhar Tilak was at the top of that list 39. It was Tilak who had used the term swaraj for the future of India. Such a strong nationalistic slogan was a red flag for both the secularists as well as the Muslim leadership. However, soon the secularists were able to force extremists such as Tilak out of the party. But the respite turned It is interesting to note here that Tilak was charged with the crime of sedition by the British Government. It was the young Jinnah who had defended Tilak in his trial. Jinnah had pleaded the case brilliantly but Tilak had lost and he was sent to prison 39

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out to be only temporary. Gandhi’s leadership fed a very strong dose of Hindu nationalism in the party. While conservative and people strongly oriented towards religion such as Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pandit Ballabh Pant rose under Gandhi’s tutelage, more enlightened people such as Nehru with his secular-socialistic agenda had to take a back seat when it came to the language politics. Most prominent leaders published their autobiographies several years before the actual partition of India in 1947. Nehru wrote his MERI KAHAANI, which was all in beautiful Urdu. Dr. Rajendra Prasad published his biography which was printed in Devnagari script but the language is uncannily Urdu. Moreover, the involvement of a Muslim cleric in his early education was highlighted. Here is an excerpt. Gandhi wrote his biography in English which was later translated into Hindi and published only in Devnagari script. Jinnah had gone into a self-imposed exile to London when the negotiations at the 1916 Lucknow Pact failed between the Congress Party and the Muslim League. It was not until 1934 that he was persuaded back to India by the Muslim League leadership to take charge of the Party, which he did and led it into the formation of Pakistan. Jinnah was a Sindhi by virtue of the place of his birth and a Gujrati by way of his community association; ethnically he was a converted Rajput. However, he had become totally anglicized while living in England. He spoke absolutely immaculate English. But when Pakistan was created he declared Urdu as the national language of the country. This was a very perceptive and far-reaching decision. He knew that the Muslims of Pakistan who came from different provinces and therefore from diverse cultural backgrounds could only be united into one nationstate by way of a common language. The country of Israel would repeat the same technique a year later to create a unified nation in 1948. While the experiment was very successful in Israel, it did not work in Pakistan and the country of Bangla Desh was formed only 25 years later on the language issue out of the Eastern Wing of Pakistan. It was a great achievement for Jinnah to have been able to persuade the Bengalis in the first place to accept Urdu as the national language of the one country. The fact that the country lasted for 25 years indicates that the people allowed one whole generation to pass before they took the decision to separate. The experiment could have worked had there not been a 1,000 mile gap between the two wings of the country. Of course, ineptness of the successive governments and the military dictatorship of General Ayub Khan only aggravated the problem.

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THE BOLLYWOOD FILM INDUSTRY HELPS PROMOTE PLURALISM WITH URDU The Indian film industry began with three separate and independent establishments. (1) Prabhat (1929) in Poona. (2) B.N. Sircar's New Theatres Ltd in Calcutta (established in 1930). (3) Himanshu Rai's Bombay Talkies (1934) in Bombay. These were all business ventures relying on the demands of the times. No government support was involved in any of the above ventures. Then the industry was so fortunate to find a genius such as Himanshu Rai. He was a very educated man. Rai was born into a wealthy Bengali family which owned a private theatre. He took a Law degree from the University of Calcutta and studied with Tagore at Shantiniketan in Switzerland. He trained as a lawyer in London in the early 1920s and also began acting in plays there, amongst them Niranjan Pal's The Goddess. Himanshu Rai had the vision, along with the intellect for fine art, to explore the most modern technology for his venture. And he used it. Rai collaborated with Germany's famous studio UFA and made Shiraz (1928) and A Throw of Dice (1929) there. The films were known for presenting 'Indian exotica' to the West. Rai also had the good sense to consider some of the classical literature for his works. He adapted Edwin Arnold's poem, The Light of Asia, for a film on the biography of Gautam Buddha. Rai went into partnership with the German producer Peter Ostermayer whose brother Franz Osten directed the film, The Light of Asia (1925) starring Rai as Gautam Buddha. The film, co-produced by the Great Eastern Film Corporation in Delhi, was presented in the press as the 'first specifically Indian Film' by Osten and was fairly successful in Central Europe. Rai encountered both good luck as well as bad luck during his career. It was his good luck that he met with Devika Rani in London. Devika was not only one of the most beautiful women of her time in India, she was an excellent actress and intellectually very mature. According to one legend, Devika Rani would just see (years later) Dilip Kumar (real name Yusuf Khan, a young man originally from the Hindko tribe of the NWFP, whose family had been in fruit merchandizing in Peshawar and Bombay for a couple of generations) and pick him out as a prospect. Rai later married Devika Rani and they both starred in many successful films. After the break out of the Second World War the British interned all prominent people of German and Italian descent living in India. Rai's ventures suffered a set back due to that.

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Bombay Talkies settled down to a schedule of about three films a year. Their films were of a high technical standard and had a glossy look to them reminiscent of the films of MGM. Devika Rani would be lit up in a manner not unlike Greta Garbo! Because of his charm, his business acumen, and his abilities, Rai attracted good financing too to his venture. The real fame came when Rai decided to tackle a very controversial issue in the Indian society. This was a film named Achhut Kanya(the untouchable maiden), the story of a love affair between a Harijan girl and a Brahman boy. Years later, Bimal Roy would make yet another film on the same lines named: SUJATA (with Sunil Dutt and Nootan in lead roles). The second phase of the development of the industry comes in the 1940's. This was the influence of music and lyrics in films. The tradition of Urdu Ghazal was well established among the middle classes. Urdu poets flocked to Bombay in search of their fortunes and found it there. Because of the old Awadh kingdom, Lucknow had been a center of fine arts in India. Both poets and musicians were to be found in great numbers in Lucknow. Some of them found their way to Bombay and gave a new impetus to the industry. Musicians like Naushad and poets such as Shakeel Badayuni, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhyanavi, even Majaz and Josh, ended up in Bombay and made their mark in the industry. Minorities also prospered in Bombay. Suhrab Modi (a Parsi) made some memorable films such as PUKAR. Nadira (a woman from a Jewish family, who recently passed away in Bombay) prospered first under Mahboob Khan (AAN) and then with other producers. THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC AND POETRY India is famous for its classical music which was patronized by Kings, Rajas and Nawabs in various parts of the subcontinent. However, the music that became popular in the films was of a lighter tenor and it appealed to the masses. Hand in hand with that popular brand of music, poetry played its own part. Urdu poets (as well as writers of prose) assembled in Bombay seeking their fortunes. As we said, even such great poets as Josh Malihabadi and Majaaz found their way to Bombay. However, the commercial life of Bombay was hard to endure for such people and they returned to their bases after a short stay. There were though, some names which became permanent fixtures of the Bombay film scene. For example, Majrooh Sultanpuri came from Sultanpoor in the early 1940’s and spent all his working life in Bombay. He became a very successful song-writer as well as being a great poet of Nazm and Ghazal. Majrooh was born Asrar-ul-Hasan Khan in 1919 in Sultanpoor, a city in Uttar Pradesh. He qualified as a Muslim physician (HAKEEM) in 1938 but then took to poetry very soon after. URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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Majrooh was a socialist and he could have actually become as great an INQILABI poet as was Josh. But his fortunes were waiting for him elsewhere. Consider these lines:

‫ﺳﺘﻮﻥِ ﺩﺍﺭ ﭘہ ﺭﮐﻬﺘﮯ ﭼﻠﻮ ﺳﺮﻭں ﮐﮯ ﭼﺮﺍﻍ‬ ‫ﺟﮩﺎں ﺗﻠﮏ ﻳہ ﺳﺘﻢ ﮐﯽ ﺳﻴﺎﮦ ﺭﺍﺕ ﭼﻠﮯ‬

Sutoon-e-daar pa rakhte chalo saroN ke chiraagh Jahan talak yeh sitam ki siyah raat chale Trans: Let us keep lighting lamps of (our) severed heads on the gallows, As long as this dark night of oppression would continue. However, he kept his socialist thinking and his socialistic poetry quite separate from his work in films. He hit the jackpot with his memorable song

‫ﻏﻢ ﺩﺋﮯ ﻣﺴﺘﻘﻞ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔‬

"Ghum diye mushtaqil..." for the film ShahJahan. The song was composed by music director Naushad, and sung by K. L. Saigal. The song acted as the springboard for Majrooh to the forefront of film lyricists, where he would remain until his death in 2000. His contributions to films and to the world of Urdu poetry were recognized and rewarded with many awards. Majrooh became the pioneer in writing lyrics for a scene which had already been set in the film and the musical tune for it has already been composed. So the lyricist had to fit the poetry with the tune so that it could be sung properly and he had to choose words and phrases which could relate to the situation in the story and the screenplay. Later on, that became the standard system of writing film poetry in Bombay. Sometimes, the poet had to write silly words just to go with the music and at other times words could not really fit the situation, except for the best lyrics writers. As opposed to that, one situation in the Bombay film scene lent itself to reversing that mechanism completely. This is about a poet named Sahir Ludhyanavi and his works. Sahir came from a feudal family in the Punjab. However, he faced difficulties in his early life. He was dispossessed of his properties by his other relatives and he had to fight for his survival. He grew up into an angry young man, who was bitter about the hypocrisy, injustice and oppression in the society. His poetry reflected all that in so many words. Guru Dutt produced, directed and played the leading role of a poet in his famous film Pyaasa. This was based partially on Sahir’s own life story and entirely on his poetry that had already been published. TIME has rated the film Pyaasa among the 100 all time great films of the world.

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We saw that the Indian film industry sprouted in the 1930s, during the British Rule, and it took substantial shape in the 1940s. By the decade of 1940 the Indian independence movement had really hotted up. Every section of the society had been playing their respective role in the movement. Urdu poetry played its role too. Poets such as Josh Malihabadi rose to fame by writing and publishing antiBritish, anti-Imperialism and pro-independence revolutionary poetry. The high point of that movement was that precious little poetry of that genre is to be found that was composed and published in the Devnagari script. All revolutionary poetry that was published in that period was in Urdu. That is yet another indication that the Indian population had accepted Urdu as its lingua franca. Urdu had become the language of all classes of people in India. Urdu gave the deep pluralistic character to the Indian film industry that remains so even to this day in 2009. And that is in spite of all the sectarianism that has taken over the Indian society in the last 65 years. The first indication of that force of multiculturalism was seen in the 1940s in films such as SHAHEED. The film had starred Dilip Kumar in the leading role as a militant anti-British young Indian who is the son of a Judge employed by the British authorities. The title song of the film had the line:

‫ﻭﻃﻦ ﮐﯽ ﺭﺍﮦ ﻣﻴﮟ ﻭﻃﻦ ﮐﮯ ﻧﻮﺟﻮﺍں ﺷﮩﻴﺪ ﮨﻮ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔‬

Watan ki raah mai.N watan ke nawjawa.N shaheed ho…. Trans: O the young man of the land, give your life for your land…

While the sentiment of patriotism and sacrifice for one’s own mother land is a universal one, the language used to express it here was purely Muslim and Islamic. The words watan and Shaheed are Arabic. Raah and Nawjawaan both are Farsi words. Particularly the word Shaheed is a Qur’anic terminology in which the soldier who gives his life fighting in Allah’s way is seen not as dying but going to live for ever because he had witnessed (in his martyrdom) Allah’s truth. The word Shaheed, which is usually translated as a martyr, actually means an eyewitness to some significant event. That phenomenon still exists in the film industry. Let us look at another song that dates back to the 1950s. The name of the film was Seema (meaning ‘limits’ in Hindi). That was the story of a misguided, but highly intelligent and spirited young woman who had become a juvenile delinquent and sent to an orphanage. The teacher in the orphanage is out to tame the young woman into a useful member of the society. In that process he leads the young woman to God. That process is depicted by a song. The song has been reproduced below.

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तू प्या का सागर है

ितर� इक बूँद के प्यास हम लौटा जो �दया तू ने

चले जाएंगे जहाँ से हम

घाएल मन का पागल पंछ� उड़ने को बेक़रार

पंख ह� कोमल आँख है धुध ं ली जाना है सागर पार

अब तू ह� इसे समझा

राह भूले थे कहाँ से हम

तू प्या का सागर ........

इधर झूम के गाये �ज़न्दग उधर है मौत खड़�

कोई क्य जाने कहाँ है सीमा उलझन आन पड़�

कान� म� ज़रा कह दे

क� आएं कौन �दशा से हम

तू प्या का सागर है ..........

‫ﺗﻮ ﭘﻴﺎﺭ ﮐﺎ ﺳﺎﮔﺮ ﮨﮯ‬ ‫ﺗﺮی ﺍک ﺑﻮﻧﺪ ﮐﮯ ﭘﻴﺎﺳﮯ ﮨﻢ‬ ‫ﻟﻮﮢﺎ ﺟﻮ ﺩﻳﺎ ﺗﻮ ﻧﮯ‬ ‫ﭼﻠﮯ ﺟﺎﺋِﻨﮕﮯ ﺟﮩﺎں ﺳﮯ ﮨﻢ‬ ‫ﮔﻬﺎﺋﻞ ﻣﻦ ﮐﺎ ﭘﺎﮔﻞ ﭘﻨﭽﻬﯽ‬ ‫ﺍُڑﻧﮯ ﮐﻮ ﺑﻴﻘﺮﺍﺭ‬ ‫ﭘﻨﮑﻪ ﮨﻴﮟ ﮐﻮﻣﻞ ﺁﻧﮑﻪ ﮨﮯ ﺩﻫﻨﺪﻫﻠﯽ‬ ‫ﺟﺎﻧﺎ ﮨﮯ ﺳﺎﮔﺮ ﭘﺎﺭ‬ ‫ﺍﺏ ﺗﻮ ﮨﯽ ﺍﺳﮯ ﺳﻤﺠﻬﺎ‬ ‫ﺭﺍﮦ ﺑﻬﻮﻟﮯ ﺗﻬﮯ ﮐﮩﺎں ﺳﮯ ﮨﻢ‬ ‫ﺗﻮ ﭘﻴﺎﺭ ﮐﺎ ﺳﺎﮔﺮ ﮨﮯ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔‬ ‫ﺍﺩﻫﺮ ﺟﻬﻮﻡ ﮐﮯ ﮔﺎﺋﮯ ﺯﻧﺪﮔﯽ‬ ‫ﺍُﺩﻫﺮ ﮨﮯ ﻣﻮﺕ ﮐﻬﮍی‬ ‫ﮐﻮﺉِ ﮐﻴﺎ ﺟﺎﻧﮯ ﮐﮩﺎں ﮨﮯ ﺳﻴﻤﺎ‬ ‫ﺍُﻟﺠﻬﻦ ﺁﻥ ﭘﮍی‬ ‫ﮐﺎﻧﻮں ﻣﻴﮟ ﺫﺭﺍ ﮐﮩہ ﺩے‬ ‫ﮐہ ﺁﻳﺌﮟ ﮐﻮﻥ ﺩِﺷﺎ ﺳﮯ ﮨﻢ‬ ‫ﺗﻮ ﭘﻴﺎﺭ ﮐﺎ ﺳﺎﮔﺮ ﮨﮯ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔‬

As we can see, the song is written in the popular Hindustani language that will pass for both Urdu and Hindi. The song could be sung by a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu, or even by a godly theosophist or theist without any qualms. The words highlight the dilemma of a young lost soul seeking guidance. The highpoint of the lyrics is the pluralistic tone and the very inclusive language of the song. The only words that can be said to come from Hindi are DISHA (direction) and SEEMA (limit). The rest of the lyrics would be easily understood on the streets of Bombay, Lucknow, Karachi and Lahore equally well.

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THE ANCIENT HISTORY: THE PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES AND PEOPLES Urdu is basically a language of India, and by extension, of Pakistan – it is a member of the Proto-Indo-European (henceforth PIE) family of languages. There is no university in the west where research on the ProtoIndo-European and its original speakers is not in progress. In some institutions this work is being done under Historical Linguistics, in other places under Social and Cultural Anthropology and in yet other places in South Asian Cultural Studies departments. There is still a strong lobby within India which believes and propagates the idea that the languages of India are very local. But this is now a minority view. Linguists, archeologists and historians have brought forth overwhelming evidence to show that the North Indian languages have developed over the centuries as a result of the ancient people settling in India, who were the original speakers of PIE and had come from far off areas of Eurasia in to the north. In fact nearly two-thirds of the world population speaks a language or another which is a member of the PIE group 40. Evidence points to the finding that the original speakers of PIE lived during the last centuries of the latest Ice Age, or some ten thousand years ago. They began dispersing from their original habitat to other areas around 2,500-1,500 B.C 41. Their original abode is though still under discussion. There are three opinions. The first view is that these people lived in the valley of the southern end of the Ural Mountain range. The Ural Mountain chain begins below the North Pole from the shores of the Arctic Ocean and runs North-South on the edge of the Siberian Tundra. The Chain is divided in four separate units. The valley at the foot of the southern most part, which is part of Northern Russia, is fertile and full of tall timbers. The second view is that these people lived in the valley of the Caucus Mountains. In the popular American terminology White people are called Caucasians from that association. A third view is that these people lived in the Pontic-Caspian region. This area is defined as starting from the southern tip of the Ural Mountain range running East-West, including the valley between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea up to and including the valley of the Caucus Mountain. Today the countries of Ukraine, Georgia, Romania and Kazakhstan are included in this area. So are the disputed provinces of South Osetia and Abkhazia, where the Russian forces fought a brief battle with those of Georgia (7 August 2008). This third view has gained more credence in the academic circles in the last few years 42. According to Anthony, some three billion people in the world speak languages of the PIE group, see: Anthony, David P., The Horse, The Wheel and Language, Princeton, 2007, p. 5 41 Toynbee, A., Mankind and Mother Earth, O.U.P., 1976 42 For details on this and other related points, see Mallory as well as Anthony 40

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As we mentioned above, the theory is that these people spread out of their original abode some time around 2500 B.C. Since the area of the Pontic-Caspian region is equally accessible to both Europe and Asia, it was easy for them to reach both parts of the continent. One group of such migrants found their way into Europe, another went up to the IranAfghanistan plateau and a third ended up in the Indian sub-continent. They took their language with them but under the local influences of the new homelands the original mother-language went through changes and new daughter-languages were born. In Europe the Romance (Greek and Latin) languages as well as the Saxon tongues were created. In Iran Avesta came into being, that gave rise to Pahlavi and then Farsi as well as Pashto in Afghanistan. In India Sanskrit took shape in which the collection of the Vedas was documented. What facilitated the spread of the PIE-speakers to these far off areas was the fact that those people had invented the wheel 43, had domesticated the horse and were able to build two-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles drawn by horses 44. The summary that we have presented to our readers in the paragraph above took some two hundred years of hard work by numerous anthropologists, linguists and archeologists as well as forensic scientists to find out, research, analyse and document in so many words. Numerous books have been written on this topic. The latest and one of the better ones is David Anthony’s The Horse, The Wheel and Language. This book came out in 2007 and because of being a new publication; it has all the latest research as well as methodologies documented in it. It is a goldmine of information for research students and scholars. Another book is James P. Mallory’s In Search of the Indo-Europeans. This book was published in 1989 but the findings in the book are still valid after all these years. We have drawn our material for this work from those two books in addition to many others. The studies on these lines were initiated as a result of the findings of Sir William Jones(1746-94) 45. Jones was sent to India as the Chief Justice on the request of East India Company to Calcutta back in the middle of the 18th century. Jones knew some 28 languages before he came to India. In India he also learned Sanskrit. That opened a completely new world to him. When he returned to England he delivered a lecture on the Indian culture in 1786. In that lecture he made his most celebrated comments which we quote here: The Sanskrit language, whatever may be its antiquity, is of wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and According to one estimate the invention of wheel took place some four thousand years ago 44 The most up-to-date and thorough discussion on this subject will be found in: David Anthony, The Horse, The Wheel and Language, Princeton University Press, 2007 45 Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, p. 296 43

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more exquisitely defined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could have been produced by accident; so strong that no philologer could examine all the three without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists. There is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and Celtic, though blended with a different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family. (……..quoted in Mallory, p.12) 46

Since Jones was a very prominent person in the society and his intellectual abilities were well recognized among the learned elite in England, the work caught on. Work continued on these lines and such lineage as Sanskrit—Agni, Latin—Ignis and English—Ignition were quickly recognized. Within a period of fifty years extensive work followed. In the middle of the 19th century August Schleicher, a German linguist, brought out new ideas. Schleicher(1821-1868) was basically a biologist 47 so he presented his linguistic theories in those terms. Schleicher was the first scholar to propose the theory of a tree-structure for the languages belonging to one family (Stammbaumtheorie 48). Before Jones’ and Schleicher’s works came to light all studies on linguistics were limited to philology, lexicography, grammar and etymology. Jones, Schleicher and other scholars’ work brought out the universal application of the science of linguistics. It turned out that the science of linguistics, on the one hand, was closely associated with anthropology and therefore with history and archeology, on the other hand it was also associated with sociology, psychology, economics and political science. More than 1,200 Proto-Indo-European roots have been identified and documented with ample evidence to show their authenticity and credibility 49. Also, the cognate words associated with those roots in various languages, mainly English, Latin and Sanskrit, have clearly been identified 50 Anthony has listed five PIE roots which form the basis of the theory of invention of the wheel, travel on two-wheeled and four-wheeled carriages drawn by horses and the consequent spread of the language and the people. Cognates of those five PIE roots are found in all languages of the world belonging to the PIE family from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, Asia and other places 51. Those roots are as follows: 50F

James P. Mallory, In Search of the Indo Europeans, Thames and Hudson, London, 1989, p.12 47 According to Mallory 48 Cambridge Encyclopedia of Languages, p.292 49 See for example, The American Heritage Dictionary of the Indo-European Roots, Houghton Mifflin, 2000 50 See, for example, Sanskrit Grammar, by Mueller 51 Anthony, pp. 59-82 46

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(1) k-w-e-l: The word ‘wheel’ is derived from this root (2) w-e-g-h: This word was used for a wheeled vehicle. The English and German words ‘WAGON’ is derived from this root 52 (3) r-e-t: The word ‘rotate’ is derived from this root 53 (4) r-e-i-d-h: the word ‘ride’ is derived from this root (5) s-k-e-p: this was used for the long wooden pole which connects the wheeled vehicle on its one end and its other end rests on the shoulder of the animal pulling the vehicle. From this we have the Latin word ‘scapula’ for the shoulder blade which is used in English too. Towards the beginning of the twentieth century research on historical linguistics intensified and more and more western institutions began sponsoring works in that science. More formal works began to appear on those lines. Several methods have been proposed for classifying the hundreds of languages spoken all across the world. We quote below the major classes and methods of classification. THE IMPORTANCE OF HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS When Karl Marks analysed the world history he saw it as an ongoing struggle between the working class and the capitalist class. The workers were always exploited by the capitalist to make more money thus making the capitalist richer and the worker poorer. This was a view of history very different from what had hitherto been thought natural. History would be written to tell who conquered which country and when-- Which king ruled which people and for how long. Marx’s work brought a completely new perspective in the science of historiography. The study of the historical evolution of language gave a yet another totally new view to historiography. For example, quoting Nicholas Ostler: The language history of the world shows more of the true impacts of past movements and changes of peoples, beyond the heraldic claims of their largely .self-appointed leaders. They reveal a subtle interweave of cultural relations with power politics and economic expediency. It also offers some broad hints for the future. It suggests rather strongly that no language spread is ultimately secure: even the largest languages in the twenty-first century will be subject either to the old determinants of language succession or some new ones that that had arisen in the last five hundred years or the last fifty. Migrations, population growth, changing techniques of education and communication --- all shift the balance of language identities across the world, while the focus of prestige and aspiration varies as the world’s economies adjust to the rise of new centers of wealth. Future situations may well be unprecedented, with potential for languages to achieve truly global use, but they will still be human. And human beings seldom stay united for long. 54 53F

52 53 54

The Urdu/Hindi word BAGGHI is also from the same root, in English it is “buggy” The English word ‘chariot’ and Urdu/Hindi ‘rath’ both are from this root Ostler, N., p.13

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THE TAXONOMY OF WORLD LANGUAGES According to the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, there are some 4,000 languages spoken in the world 55. However, David Anthony believes this figure is greater than 6,000. Some 23 different families of languages have been identified. In connection with Urdu, we are mainly concerned with three language families. However, before we list those, let us first discuss the classification of the world languages. There are three main methods of classifying languages: (1) The Genetic Method (2) The Typological method, and (3) The Areal method We give below the definition of each of the above by quoting Joseph Greenberg 56. Of these, the genetic is the only one which is at once non-arbitrary, exhaustive and unique. By “non-arbitrary” is here meant that there is no choice of criteria leading to different and equally legitimate results. This is because genetic classification reflects historical events which must have occurred or not occurred. If the classification is correct, it implies events which did occur. By “exhaustiveness” of a classification is meant that all languages are put into some class, and by “uniqueness” that no language is put in more than one class 57. Genetic classification, as has been seen, is based on criteria of sound-meanings resemblances of linguistic forms. Related languages are likely to be in the same geographical region but usually are not in continuous distribution…….. ………………………………………….. Typological classifications are based on criteria of sound without meaning, meaning without sound, or both. For example, using a phonetic criterion only we might divide the languages of the world into two typological classes, those with tonal systems and those lacking tonal systems……… ………………………………………. Typological classifications are arbitrary, as has just been indicated, exhaustive, and unique. They have no necessary historical implications. ………………………… Areal classifications are based on effects of languages upon one another whether they are related, or unrelated. Among the relevant data are borrowings, involving both sound and meaning, and influences in sound only or meaning only which are the result of historical contact. ……………………………

Cambridge Encyclopedia, p.85 Joseph Greenberg (1915-2001) was a New Yorker who worked on and taught Linguistic typology and Language Classification at Stanford University. 57 Readers who are experts in database design techniques would have noticed the strong resemblance to data normalization in this description by Greenberg. This is the third normal form of data. It tells us how far ahead Greenberg was in his thinking. The concept of data normalization was not introduced until the 1970s. 55 56

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Areal classifications are therefore arbitrary within limits. They are neither exhaustive nor unique. 58

We shall see that the study and classification of the languages belonging to the Proto-Indo-European family of languages, of which Urdu and Hindi both are members, has been done by the genetic method. A comprehensive tree-structure has been proposed which has been largely accepted by the scholars of linguistics. Before we discuss that, let us give the details of the other two families of the languages which are relevant to the discussion on Urdu. One of the oldest or perhaps the oldest language family of the world is the Semitic family of languages. The term ‘Semitic’ signifies an association with the Biblical name Sam, a son of the prophet Noah. Even though the term has come to signify Jewish people and everything else Jewish in modern times, both R.A. Nicholson 59 of Cambridge as well as Philip Hitti 60 of Princeton have maintained that the only people who could be called purely Semitic are the Arabs. Nicholson lists the Semitic languages 61 with their respective dates as follows: (1) Babylonian or Assyrian (3,000-500 B.C.) (2) Hebrew (from 500 B.C.) (3) South Arabic otherwise called Sabean or Himyarite (inscriptions from 800 B.C.) (4) Aramaic (inscriptions from 800 B.C.) (5) Phoenician (inscriptions from 700 B.C.) (6) Ethiopic (inscriptions from 350 A.D.) (7) Arabic (from 500 A.D.) The above list is important for our discussion because Urdu as well as Hindi both are influenced by Arabic, the youngest of the Semitic languages. Our contention is that Urdu and Hindi though identified in modern times as two separate languages for political reasons are actually the same except for the two scripts. Much discussion has ensued in academic circles on this highly controversial and contentious topic. See for example: (1) Amrit Rai, A House Divided, The Origin of Urdu and Hindi, Greenberg, J.H., Essays in Linguistics, Chicago University Press, 1957, pp. 65-69. Please note that we have only quoted the salient points of the essay, for those who are interested in the subject of classification of languages, we recommend that they read the full essay. 59 Reynold Nicholson (1868-1945) was an English orientalist of great repute. He was the professor of Arabic, Farsi and Islamic studies at Cambridge, England. He has translated the poetry of Mawlana Rum and that of Allama Iqbal into English. 60 Philip Khuri Hitti (1886-1978) was a Maronite Christian Arab from Lebanon. He taught at Columbia University and later held the Chair of Arab Studies at Princeton until his retirement in 1954. Hitti is credited with introducing Arab Studies to the US Academic circles. 61 Nicholson, R.A., A Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge University Press, 1907 and 1979, p. xiv 58

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O.U.P., 1992 (2) Abdul Jamil Khan, Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide(Politics of Languge), Algora Publishing, 2006 (3) Christopher King, One Language Two Scripts, O.U.P., 1999. The Indian scholar of Allahabad named Giyan Chand Jain wrote a book in Urdu on this topic – Ek Bhasha, Do Likhavat, Do Adab, Educational Publishing House, Delhi, 2005. This last book caused a lot of controversy in India and Pakistan. The well-known critic Shamsur-Rahman Faruqi wrote a rebuttal of the main ideas presented in the book 62. The third group of languages that is significant for us is the Dravidian family of languages. These were the languages spoken in India before the PIE speakers arrived in India as settler/conquerors around 2,500 B.C. The Indus Valley civilization is identified with those languages. In this group two languages are very important, namely Tamil and Telgu. Tamil is one of the official languages of India. It is spoken in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Singapore. There are some 70 million speakers of Tamil in the world. It has its own script. Telgu is also a Dravidian language but unlike Tamil it has been overly influenced by Sanskrit over the centuries. It is also one of the official languages of India and it is spoken in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnatak and on some islands in the Indian Ocean. Telgu also has its own script. Indus Valley civilization is considered to be the third of the three oldest human civilizations. It is significant for us in this study because the first Muslims landed in this area back in 710 A.D. For that reason, that area is called Bab-ul-Islam in today’s Pakistan. Some recent excavations in the area and further research seem to shed more light on the Indus Valley Civilization. No longer is the Indus the plain cousin of Egypt and Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium B.C.E. Archeologists now realize that the Indus dwarfed its grand neighbours in land area and population, surpassed them in many areas of engineering and technology, and was an aggressive player during humanity’s first flirtation with globalization 5000 years ago. The old notion that the Indus people were an insular, homogeneous, and egalitarian bunch is being replaced by a view of a diverse and dynamic society that stretched from the Arabian Sea to the foothills of the Himalayas and was eager to do business with peoples from Afghanistan to Iraq. And the Indus people worried enough about the privileges of their The reason we have mentioned here both names is that we want to emphasize that the Hindi which had remained strictly Hindi without much relationship to Urdu has also been influenced by Arabic as we have shown in quoting the poetry of Meera Bai whose language is Rajasthani Hindi. And now in the last sixty years the language that is spoken in India and also used in the media has been deliberately overloaded with made-up words from Sanskrit to make it as much different from Urdu as possible. Similarly, in Pakistan, the language that is spoken and used in the media has been over-loaded with Arabic. The famous episode of the late dictator Zia-ul-Haq forcing people to say Allah-Hafiz instead of the more popular and fluent Khuda Hafiz (as a parting greeting) is a typical example of that. However, as long as the Bollywood film industry flourishes, the common language will flourish.

62

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elite to build thick walls to protect them. “This idea that Indus was dull and monolithic --- that is all nonsense,” says Louis Flamm, an archeologist at the City University of New York who has worked in Pakistan. 63

It is now an accepted view among the western scholars that the PIE speakers came to India around 2500-1500 B.C. and pushed the original inhabitants (aadi basi) down south and established themselves in the Northern part of the country. These invaders are called Aryans or Indo-Aryans. The Aryan group of IE languages consists of Sanskrit and the other IE dialects of India, Iranian and the Kafir languages of North-west India. The original homeland of the Indians, or rather of the IE tribes who had penetrated into India, can be traced to a region outside India, north-west of India itself. From here, probably around the middle of the second millennium BC, the fore-bearers of the Indians moved into India, conquering the non-IE native peoples. These people had a flourishing civilization, the so-called ‘Indus Valley Civilization,’ whose most important archeological remains have been recovered by the excavation of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. 64

Very similar ideas are expressed by Nicholas Ostler, a more recent writer. Sanskrit first appears to us, as do most of its Indo-European sister languages, as the speech of conquering warriors, well capable of using horses and wheeled vehicles to establish domination over their neighbours and turn them into serfs and subjects. The way of life is familiar from heroic poetry of Indo-European peoples in every direction: men who fought from chariots, speak forth rightly, and care for their own personal honour more than life itself. 65

However, our learned friend professor Gabriela Ilieva 66 of New York University maintains that this was a gradual settlement over a time and there was no sustained warfare between the settlers and the original inhabitants. In support of that view she presents the statements in the Rig Veda which speak of the destruction of the areas in the Indus Valley in the past tense. There is no statement saying that “we destroyed such and such,” etc. THE VEDAS AND OTHER ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE

Unmasking the Indus, article in SCIENCE, 6 June 2008, Vol. 320, p. 1276 Lazzeroni, Romana; Sanskrit, article in Ramat and Ramat, The Indo European Languages, Routledge, London, 1998, p. 98 65 Ostler, N.; Empires of the Word, Harper Collins, New York, 2005, p. 195 66 Gabriela Nik Ilieva has done her Ph.D. on the feminine voices recorded in the Rig Veda. She is a historical linguist and teaches Hindi at NYU.(private conversation) 63 64

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The oldest Indo-Aryan linguistic samples are found in the four Vedas, which form the basis of the various sects found within the Hindu religion of India. The oldest of those is the Rig Veda which consists of hymns dedicated to gods Indra 67 and Agni 68. The language of this document is the Vedic Sanskrit. Its period has been estimated as 17001100 B.C. It has strong resemblances to the oldest Iranian religious document the Avesta which has been dated to be of 2000 B.C. Avesta is a sample of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language that derived from the PIE as did the Vedic Sanskrit. The next two of documents from the point-of-view of linguistic history are Mahabharata and Ramayana, both written in a later version of Sanskrit. Mahabharata’s date is estimated to be between the 8th and the 4th century B.C. It is the longest epic in the known world literature comprising of some 74,000 verses/stanzas. Ramayana’s date is estimated to be between 400 and 200 B.C. The PIE speakers who came to the Indian subcontinent formulated an elaborate social system and a very formal religion that was kept inside the temples and was administered to the common folk by an elite class of priests who named themselves as the Brahmans. The theory they created was that the human society consisted of four classes, each in turn was produced from the four parts of the body of god – the Brahmans were from the mouth of the god, therefore, they claimed to be the speakers of god’s language and His commands, the Chhatris or the warriors from His chest, the Vayshyas or the business class from His stomach and the Shudras from His feet. Thus the fourth one were the lowest in class distinction. The Brahmans called their language or the Divine language Sanskrit meaning ‘perfect,’ ‘complete,’ or ‘cultured.’ Being the custodians of the temples and of the religion, only they could recite the devotional hymns to the gods. And only they could speak the divine language Sanskrit. In fact they were afraid that if they allowed the common folk to speak the divine language it would be polluted. To protect the language from that corruption, a priest by the name of Panini authored his much celebrated Sanskrit Grammar called asht-adhyaye or ‘eight lessons.’ He claimed to have been inspired by the Lord Shiva in that authorship. It is the oldest work on descriptive linguistics in the world, and is amazingly modern in its approach. He lists consonants and vowels and all parts of speech with their respective definitions. Panini describes his various rules of grammar as modern day mathematicians give the derivation of a mathematical function. Panini’s time is estimated to be around 400 B.C.

67 68

Master of the Garden of Paradise, a superior god in Hindu mythology The god of Fire in Hindu mythology

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SANSKRIT AND PRAKRIT The priests considered Vedic Sanskrit as sacred. This is shown by the fact that Panini is obviously writing his grammar of the Sanskrit language in Sanskrit, but he uses a different Sanskrit to describe the rules. It is not Vedic Sanskrit which he uses to document Vedic Sanskrit. It is a coded and abbreviated Sanskrit 69. This was the beginning of the post-Vedic classical Sanskrit. It is not certain whether or not the Vedic Sanskrit was ever spoken outside of the temples. Since the common folk were not allowed to use Sanskrit in their every-day social communication 70, yet another spoken language came into being, which nevertheless, was a PIE dialect. It was definitely influenced by Sanskrit. The Brahmans, out of their pride and in extreme derision and contempt, called that spoken language Prakrit meaning ‘natural’ (as opposed to Divine), ‘less perfect’ or ‘corrupted.’ What the Brahman of that day did not understand was that languages are not like gold and silver, in that they are not reduced in value or stature by extensive use neither do they get spent like money. If anything, languages are enhanced and expanded as their user base expands. In their protective attitude and narrow-mindedness the priests imprisoned Sanskrit inside the temple. That suffocated the language. Sanskrit is one of the most perfect languages of the world if not ‘the’ perfect one. But the Brahman’s protective attitude killed the language of that suffocation. If Sanskrit would have been used extensively in the past, then with the Vedic literature in view, it would have been accepted as the first religious language of the world. Arabic cannot be truly called a religious language because a large part of its literature was already in existence before Islam emerged in Arabia. This short note here, will work as a preamble to our theory that Urdu is the world’s first religious language. With time, the Prakrit kept evolving. At some later time it was called apabhransh or ‘badly corrupted’ and yet later it came to be known as ‘shor seni 71.’ We do not have sufficient data to be able to pinpoint the exact timing of these changes in nomenclature. Linguists have identified some eight different dialects of ancient India which are collectively called Apabhransha dialects. As further time passed and people of the PIE origins continued to spread across the geographical area, Prakrit developed local variations. But across the belt from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea shores 70F

For example, see for details: Bhate, Saroja and Kak, Subhash; Panini’s Grammar and Computer Science, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 72, 1993, pp. 79-94, also available at: http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/bhate.pdf 70 In fact, if a person of the common class tried to speak Sanskrit, the priests would subject the offender to severe punishment 71 This is derived from ‘Surasena,’ which was the name of an ancient kingdom in north India. 69

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between the Himalayan range on the north and the Vindhyachal range on the south a common language was understood. Eventhough the vocabulary developed its own peculiarities in each locality; the grammar remained the same – even to this day. On the two extremes, Bangla broke off into its own script and language in the East, and Gujrati and Marathi into their own dialects and scripts in the west. Four of those branches of the original Prakrit have survived to this day and those four actually form the basis of modern Urdu/Hindi. KHARI BOLI AND BRAJ BHAASHA Those branches are as follows: (1) Braj Bhasha – this dialect developed around Mathura 72 on the western shores of the Yamuna river. The area of the influence of this dialect spread up to Agra. During the period 800-1900 A.D. this dialect was spoken by the largest population in the western Uttar Pradesh. The poetry of Sur Das that he wrote in praise of Lord Krishna has been written in this dialect. (2) Avadhi – This, as the name suggests, was the language spoken in the province of Avadh. It was also spoken in the area where today’s city of Kanpur is located. The Ramayana 73 of Tulsi Das in which he chronicles the heroic exploits of Lord Rama is written in this dialect. Both Braj and Avadhi show borrowings from and a base in Sanskrit in their respective vocabulary. (3) Bundel Khandi or Bundeli – as the name suggests this dialect developed in the Bundel Khand area. The well known folk epic Alha-Udal is written in this dialect. This is an epic chronicling the heroic exploits of two brothers. It is sung in gatherings in villages of Uttar Pradesh and mostly people have memorized the long poem for those recitals. Bundeli seems to be influenced from both Sanskrit as well as the ancient Dravidian dialects. (4) Khari Boli – this dialect developed in the northern part of Delhi including some parts of Uttar Pradesh. This was the language of a minority in the beginning. During the 18th and the 19th centuries its popularity increased under the influence of Arabic and Farsi, and by the end of the 19th century it had become the language of the majority in and around Delhi and some parts of Uttar Pradesh. It took a long time for the Khari Boli to become an accepted language for literary compositions. The first Khari Boli work which was written in Nast’aleeq script is Fazl-e-Ali Fazli’s Karbal Katha. This was written during the period 1730-1750 74 A.D. and it is the According to the epic Mahabharat, the city of Mathura was the capital of the Surasena Kingdom of the ancient times. From this we have the name Shoraseni for the second name of the Prakrit dialects that we have mentioned above. 73 This is a different Ramayana from the Sanskrit Ramayana that we mentioned earlier 74 Mukerji, Sujit, A Dictionary of Indian Literature, Orient Longman, 1999 72

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first Urdu (or in Hindi) prose text to be produced. Other early Khari Boli works are Lallu Lal’s PremSagar 75 which was written in the early 1800’s and Insha Allah Khan’s Rani Ketki ki Kahani. Both those works were originally written in Dev Nagari Script. THE BHAKTI MOVEMENT OF INDIA As we explained above the early Brahmans had monopolized both the religion in the temples as well as the language Sanskrit. Obviously, this was not liked by the larger population. The embargo on the language caused the creation of the Prakrit dialects. The monopolization of religion caused the public to find other avenues to form the basis of their prayers and worship. Two very influential leaders emerged in this midst. Gawtam Buddha (Real name: Prince Siddhartha) lived around 563-483 B.C. He was born a prince in the kingdom of Kapilvastu (in today’s Tibet) but renounced his throne and left the palace living and a wife and a child. He went into wanderings in search of eternal peace. He taught reflection and introspection to his followers. In effect he taught against the adoration of stone idols and other physical objects. The second reformer was Mahavira who lived around 599-527 B.C. He is the progenitor of the Jain religion in India. The most essential tenet of Jainism is Ahimsa or nonviolence. The effect of the reforms of these two great sages was that god had been taken out of the temple and brought to a more tangible level. The general public felt that they had come closer to god by way of these reforms. Even though the teachings of both these religions were originally documented in classical Sanskrit, their movements encouraged people to tell the divine stories which had so far been limited to the Vedas, in their own popular languages. Consequently the Prakrits were made popular as a side effect of those two reformers’ works. The Prakrits were not just means of social intercourse; instead they had become languages of the religion too. That helped the Bhakti movement which actually began in the 800s A.D. The word Bhakti means devotion. The movement made sure that poets of all the dialects of the Prakrits began composing devotional songs in their own dialects. That basically made the Vedas redundant because all those stories told in the four Vedas were now being told in the popular dialects. In the Vedic scriptures God was shown to be behaving much like the humans. The Bhakti movement brought those Vedic concepts in a popular language that the majority of the people spoke or could speak. The beginning of the Muslim conquests is also the early 800s. So we can see that the arrival and settlement of Muslims in India and This was translated into modern English in 1818 by Capt. Hollings of the British Bengal regiment. This is available on: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/psa/psa00.htm

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beginning of the Bhakti Movement are simultaneous phenomena. Eventhough they appear to be unconnected, they both had profound effect on each other. We also saw that the beginning of the Prakrit dialects in northern part of India was a natural consequence of the elitist view of a privileged class about the language Sanskrit. The majority of the population felt resentful because of the caste system perpetuated by the Brahmans. Both the movement of Buddha as well as that of Mahavira attracted large number of followers since the followers of those two religions were all considered equal. In fact the majority of Indians became Buddhists. After several centuries of prosperity Buddhism began to decline in India and the old Hindu religion began rising again. The Hindu priests declared Buddha as a Mahatma (great soul) and an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. That facilitated a mixed set of beliefs to be popularized. By the end of the 11th century Buddhism was pushed to China and Afghanistan and Hinduism was re-established in the Indian society. That meant the reestablishment of the old caste system in the society once again. When the Muslim Sufis came to India they preached the message of human brotherhood. As a result of that a large number of the lower class Hindus converted to Islam. During the 1400s and 1500s the Bhakti Movement flourished greatly. The clearest indication of that is the literature produced during that period. However, the Bhakti movement bifurcated in two parallel streams. One was the Nirgun and the other was the Sagun. Sagun preached the bodily representation of god. The leader of this movement was Sur Das. He sang the songs of praise of Lord Krishna. In Sur Das’ poetry, the child Krishna is seen eating butter by stealth in the kitchen and then telling his mother that he had not done it. The youthful Krishna is seen frolicking with the Gopis (the cowgirls) of Vrindaban, teasing them and then leaving them. So, basically, Sur Das depicted the Divine figure doing everything a human being would do, including amorous encounters with the opposite sex. Tulsi Das on the other hand shows a chivalrous hero in the figure of Rama who is a just and benevolent ruler. He is always ready to sacrifice for the good of his subjects. Rama has a devoted brother in Laxman and an equally devoted wife in Seeta. However, much as he loves both, when Seeta is abducted by the Raxus(demon) Rawana and subsequently recovered, Rama fails to protect Seeta against the onslaught of the courtiers who question her chastity. She has to tread on fire to prove her purity. The highpoint of both works is that woman is shown in a subservient position. We will discuss this again when talking about Meera Bai. Nirgun meant and preached that god had no physical body, age or place. And man can find god in himself. This notion was much closer to the basic ideas of Islam. The leader of that movement was Kabir Das. Kabir had originated in Benares but had travelled the length and breadth of northern India. His language therefore is a mix of all dialects. URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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The Muslim Sufis injected the idea of mysticism in this flourishing Bhakti movement of India. That notion seeped into both forms of the Bhakti movement. In the Nirgun Bhakti movement Kabir Das’ poetry is replete with those ideas. On the Sagun side, Meera Bai’s poetry is filled with ideas of mysticism. Let us look at some of that poetry. Kabir lived during the time 1440-1518. Kabir’s poetry shows more than once that the actual leitmotiv of the Bhakti movement was to discredit the caste system of the Indian society. Consider the following lines of Kabir: साधू �ा�ण, साध छ�ी, साधे जाित बिनयां साधन मां छ�ीस कौम ह� , टे ढ़� तोर पुछिनयाँ

साधे नाओ, साधे धोबी, साध जात है

ब�रयाँ

साधन मां रै दास संत ह� , सपुच ऋ�ष सौ

भंिगयाँ

�हं द ू तुरु दईु द�न बने ह� कछु नह�ं पह्चिनया

‫ﺳﺎﺩﻫﮯ‬،‫ ﺳﺎﺩﻫ ﭼﻬﺘﺮی‬،‫ﺳﺎﺩﻫﻮ ﺑﺮﺍﮨﻤﻦ‬ ‫ﺟﺎﺗﯽ ﺑﻨﻴﺎ‬ ‫ ﮢﻴﮍﻫﯽ ﺗﻮﺭ‬،‫ﺳﺎﺩﻫﻦ ﻣﺎں ﭼﻬﺘﻴﺲ ﮐﻮﻡ ﮨﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﭘُﭽﻬﻨﻴﺎ‬ ‫ ﺳﺎﺩﻫ ﺟﺎﺕ‬،‫ ﺳﺎﺩﻫﮯ ﺩﻫﻮﺑﯽ‬،‫ﺳﺎﺩﻫﮯ ﻧﺎﺋﻮ‬ ‫ﮨﮯ ﺑﺮﻳﺎں‬ ‫ﺳﭙُﭻ ﺭِﺷﯽ‬،‫ﺳﺎﺩﻫﻦ ﻣﺎںﺮے ﺩﺍﺱ ﺳﻨﺖ ﮨﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﺳﻮ ﺑﻬﻨﮕﻴﺎں‬ ‫ﮨﻨﺪﻭ ﺗُﺮُک ﺩﻭﺋﯽ ﺩﻳﻦ ﺑﻨﮯ ﮨﻴﮟ ﮐﭽﻬﻮ ﻧﮩﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﭘﮩﭽﻨﻴﺎں‬

Trans: Brahman is a Sadhu, Chhatri is a Sadhu, the grocer too is a Sadhu/there are thiry-six tribes among the sadhus, your question is crooked/the barber is a Sadhu, the washer-man is a Sadhu and carpenter too is among them/ Ray Das the sage is also a Sadhu and the well known ascetic who is known as a Bhangi/ Hindu and Muslim have been made into two separate religions, but in effect there is no difference(between them). In these lines Kabir seems to be making naught of various different religions let alone sects and castes within one religious system. In effect he espouses the mystic view of man seeking his Lord irrespective of religion, caste and creed. The word ‘sadhu’ has been used as a generic term for a devotee of God. The number 36 was used as an idiom to show a multitude and in today’s Urdu/Hindi this expression is still used in that meaning. Consider also the following lines also by Kabir:

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इस घट अन्द बाग बगीचे इसी म� सजर् हारा

इस घट अन्त सात समन्द इसी म� नौ लख तारा

इस घट अन्त पारस मोती इसी म� पखर् हारा

इस घट अन्द अनहद गरजे इसी म� फुआरा

उठत

कहत कबीर सुनो भई साधू इसी म� सांइं हमारा

‫ﺍﺱ ﮔﻬﭧ ﺍﻧﺘﺮ ﺑﺎگ ﺑﮕﻴﭽﮯ ﺍﺳﯽ ﻣﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﺳﺮﺟﻦ ﮨﺎﺭﺍ‬ ‫ﺍﺱ ﮔﻪٹ ﺍﻧﺘﺮ ﺳﺎﺕ ﺳﻤﻨﺪﺭ ﺍﺳﯽ ﻣﻴﮟ ﻧﻮ‬ ‫ﻟﮑﻪ ﺗﺎﺭﺍ‬ ‫ﺍﺱ ﮔﻬﭧ ﺍﻧﺘﺮ ﭘﺎﺭﺱ ﭘﻮﺗﯽ ﺍﺳﯽ ﻣﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﭘﺮﮐﻬﻦ ﮨﺎﺭﺍ‬ ‫ﺍﺱ ﮔﻬﭧ ﺍﻧﺘﺮ ﺍﻧﺤﺪ ﮔﺮﺟﮯ ﺍﺳﯽ ﻣﻴﮟ ﺍُﮢﻬﺖ‬ ‫ﭘﻬﻮﮨﺎﺭﺍ‬ ‫ﮐﮩﺖ ﮐﺒﻴﺮ ﺳﻨﻮ ﺑﻬﺌﯽ ﺳﺎﺩﻫﻮ ﺍﺳﯽ ﻣﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﺳﺎﺋِﻴﮟ ﮨﻤﺎﺭﺍ‬

Translation: In this body are gardens, also the gardener lives herein/ In this body are the seven seas, and in this very body there are nine lak stars/In this body there are pearls and jewels and so is the jeweler/In this soul is the thunder of the Almighty and from this also flow fountains/ Kabir says: Listen O sage, in this soul lives our Lord. These lines combine the message of pluralism as well as the typical mystic notion of ‘Existence in One Union,’ or Wahdat-ul-Wajood 76. Kabir lived in the 15th century. He was a Sufi poet in the long line of many such poets who are considered to be the followers of the Bhakti movement. The Bhakti movement ended around 1700. However, the thinking that gave rise to the poetry in mysticism has continued to this our day. 75F

Consider the following lines by Iqbal:

‫ﺯﺍﮨﺪِ ﺗﻨﮓ ﻧﻈﺮ ﻧﮯ ﻣﺠﻪے ﮐﺎﻓﺮ ﺟﺎﻧﺎ‬ ‫ﺍﻭﺭ ﮐﺎﻓﺮ ﻳہ ﺳﻤﺠﻬﺘﺎ ﮨﮯ ﻣﺴﻠﻤﺎں ﮨﻮں ﻣﻴﮟ‬ ‫ﺩﻳﮑﻪ ﺍے ﭼﺸﻢِ ﻋﺪﻭ ﻣﺠﻪ ﮐﻮ ﺣﻘﺎﺭﺕ ﺳﮯ ﻧہ ﺩﻳﮑﻪ‬ ‫ﺟﺲ ﭘہ ﻓﻄﺮﺕ ﮐﻮ ﺑﻬﯽ ﮨﮯ ﻧﺎﺯ ﻭﮦ ﺍﻧﺴﺎں ﮨﻮں ﻣﻴﮟ‬

The narrow-minded priest considers me an infidel/And the infidel thinks I am a Muslim/Listen my enemy! Do not look at me with derision/I am that human, on whom Nature takes pride. The famous Muslim mystic Ibn Arabi (1165-1240 A.D.) is credited with this concept – the only reality in this universe is God Almighty, everything else is temporal, so when man dies he becomes one with his Lord.

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Also look at the following poem which says the same thing in more definite terms.

‫ﺳﭻ ﮐﮩہ ﺩﻭں ﺍے ﺑﺮﮨﻤﻦ ﮔﺮ ﺗﻮ ﺑﺮﺍ ﻧہ ﻣﺎﻧﮯ‬ ‫ﺗﻴﺮے ﺻﻨﻢ ﮐﺪﻭں ﮐﮯ ﺑُﺖ ﮨﻮ ﮔﺌﮯ ﭘﺮﺍﻧﮯ‬ ‫ﺍﭘﻨﻮں ﺳﮯ ﺑﻴﺮ ﺭﮐﻬﻨﺎ ﺗﻮ ﻧﮯ ﺑﺘﻮں ﺳﮯ ﺳﻴﮑﻬﺎ‬ ‫ﺟﻨﮓ ﻭ ﺟﺪﻝ ﺳﮑﻬﺎﻳﺎ ﻭﺍﻋﻆ ﮐﻮ ﺑﻬﯽ ﺧﺪﺍ ﻧﮯ‬ ‫ﺗﻨﮓ ﺁ ﮐﮯ ﺁﺧﺮ ﻣﻴﮟ ﻧﮯ ﺩﻳﺮ ﻭ ﺣﺮﻡ ﮐﻮ ﭼﻬﻮڑﺍ‬ ‫ ﭼﻬﻮڑے ﺗﺮے ﻓﺴﺎﻧﮯ‬،‫ﻭﺍﻋﻆ ﮐﺎ ﻭﻋﻆ ﭼﻬﻮڑﺍ‬ ‫ﭘﺘﻬﺮ ﮐﯽ ﻣﻮﺭﺗﻮں ﻣﻴﮟ ﺳﻤﺠﻬﺎ ﮨﮯ ﺗﻮ ﺧﺪﺍ ﮨﮯ‬ ‫ﺧﺎکِ ﻭﻃﻦ ﮐﺎ ﮨﺮ ﺫﺭّﮦ ﻣﺠﻪ ﮐﻮ ﺩﻳﻮﺗﺎ ﮨﮯ‬ ‫ﺁ ﻏﻴﺮﻳﺖ ﮐﮯ ﭘﺮﺩے ﺍک ﺑﺎﺭ ﭘﻬﺮ ﺍُﮢﻬﺎ ﺩﻳﮟ‬ ‫ﺑﭽﻬﮍﻭں ﮐﻮ ﭘﻬﺮ ﻣﻼ ﺩﻳﮟ ﻧﻘﺶِ ﺩﻭﺋِﯽ ﻣﮣﺎ ﺩﻳﮟ‬ ‫ﺳﻮﺋِﯽ ﭘﮍی ﮨﻮﺋِِﯽ ﮨﮯ ﻣﺪّﺕ ﺳﮯ ﺩﻝ ﮐﯽ ﺑﺴﺘﯽ‬ ‫ﺁ ﺍک ﻧﻴﺎ ﺷﻮﺍﻟہ ﺍﺱ ﺩﻳﺲ ﻣﻴﮟ ﺑﻨﺎ ﺩ ﻳﮟ‬ ‫ﺩﻧﻴﺎ ﮐﮯ ﺗﻴﺮﺗﻬﻮں ﺳﮯ ﺍُﻭﻧﭽﺎ ﮨﻮ ﺍﭘﻨﺎ ﺗﻴﺮﺗﻪ‬ ‫ﺩﺍﻣﺎﻥِ ﺁﺳﻤﺎں ﺳﮯ ﺍﺳﮑﺎ ﮐﻠﺲ ﻣﻼ ﺩﻳﮟ‬ ‫ﮨﺮ ﺻﺒﺢ ﺍُﮢﻪ ﮐﮯ ﮔﺎﺋِﻴﮟ ﻣﻨﺘﺮ ﻭﮦ ﻣﻴﮣﻬﮯ ﻣﻴﮣﻬﮯ‬ ‫ﺳﺎﺭے ﭘﺠﺎﺭﻳﻮں ﮐﻮ ﻣﮯ ﭘﻴﺖ ﮐﯽ ﭘﻼ ﺩﻳﮟ‬ ‫ﺷﮑﺘﯽ ﺑﻬﯽ ﺷﺎﻧﺘﯽ ﺑﻬﯽ ﺑﻬﮕﺘﻮں ﮐﮯ ﮔﻴﺖ ﻣﻴﮟ ﮨﮯ‬ ‫ﺩﻫﺮﺗﯽ ﮐﮯ ﺑﺎﺳﻴﻮں ﮐﯽ ﻣﮑﺘﯽ ﺑﻬﯽ ﭘﺮﻳﺖ ﻣﻴﮟ ﮨﮯ‬

Meer Bai, on the other hand, comes in the Sagun tradition of the Bhakti movement. As we have pointed it out above, Meera was born in Rajasthan at a place which was very close to the Ajmer Shrine of Khwaja Mo’een-ud-Deen Chishti. She was born in 1498. By that time the shrine had been there for nearly three centuries. It is our contention that in that time a strongly influenced linguistic-cultural tradition must have evolved around the Shrine. That tradition, on the one hand, was instrumental in the new language being evolved, and on the other hand it was deeply influenced by the Muslim tradition. Our emphasis here is on the linguistic tradition. For that we will present some brief examples. Two things are strikingly apparent in Meera’s poetry: (1) Use of Arabic an Farsi words and idioms, and (2) A strong underpinning of women’s lib. We shall leave the women’s lib aspect for the time since it is not germane to our discussion here.

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सुनी हूँ म� हर� आवन क� आवाज महल चढ़ चढ़ जोऊँ मेर� सजनी

मोल

----------------------------------माई र� ! महािलयाँ गो�बन्दा िलया थे क�हय्या

छाड़े महां कां चोडडे

थे क�हय्या

मुन होधो महां सस्त

िलया बजंता ढोल

िलया र� तराजा तोल

तन वारां महां जीवन वारां बरां अमोलक मोल

‫ﺳﻨﯽ ﮨﻮں ﻣﻴﮟ ﮨﺮی ﺁﻭﻥ ﮐﯽ ﺁﻭﺍﺝ‬ ‫)ﻣﺤﻞ( ﻣﻬﻞ‬ ‫ﭼﮍﻫ ﭼﮍﻫ ﺟﻮﻭں ﻣﺮی ﺳﺠﻨﯽ‬ ---------------------------‫ﻣﺎﺋﯽ ﺭی۔ ﻣَﻬﺎﻟﻴﺎں ﮔﻮﺑِﻨﺪﺍ ﻟﻴﺎ ﻣﻮﻝ‬ ‫ﺗﻬﮯ ﮐﮩِﺎﺋﻨﻴﺎں ﭼﻬﺎڑے ﻣﮩﺎں ﮐﺎں ﭼﻮڈ‬ ‫ڈے‬ ‫ﻟﻴﺎ ﺑﺠﻨﺘﺎ ڈﻫﻮﻝ‬ ‫ﺗﻬﮯ ﮐﮩﺎﺋﻨﻴﺎں ﻣﻨﻮ ﮨﻮ ﺩﻫﻮ ﻣﮩﺎں ﺳﺴﺘﺎ‬ ‫ﻟﻴﺎ ﺭی ﺗﺮﺍﺟﺎ ﺗﻮﻝ‬ ‫ﺗﻦ ﻭﺍﺭﺍں ﻣﮩﺎں ﺟﻴﻮﻥ ﻭﺍﺭﺍں‬ ‫ﺑﺮﺍں ﺍَﻣﻮﻟﮏ ﻣﻮﻝ‬

Notice the Farsi word AWAAZ (sound, voices) rendered as AWAAJ, because there is no ‘Z’ sound in the Indo-Aryan languages. Also notice the use of the Arabic words MAHAL (palace) and a deformed TARAJA which is basically the Arabic TARAZOO.

URDU TAKES ROOTS IN THE DECCAN Nearly a century after Khwaja Mueen-ud-Deen Chishti arrived in India, another Sufi of great significance lived in India. Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Draz was born in Delhi in 1321 A.D. He grew up in Delhi. By that time the period of Khusro and Nizam-ud-Deen was coming to an end. However, the Sufi tradition had been well established in Delhi. Gesu Daraz grew up in that environment and was initiated into the Sufi Tareeqa by many of his teachers. When Muhammad Tughlaq decided to move the seat of the government from Delhi to the Deccan, people of all professions moved to that area. Gesu Daraz also moved to Deccan in that period. He finally settled down in Karnatak and passed away in 1422 A.D. His shrine in Gulbarga is a place of pilgrimage for the devotees.

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Enterance-Gulbarga Shareef Dargah

HAZRAT GESU DARAZ AND HIS WORKS IN URDU Historians have given various reasons for the decision by Tughlaq to move the capital 700 miles down south from Delhi to Devagiri which was renamed Daulatabad. Some have said that the Tughlaq wanted greater control of the southern part of the kingdom. Others have said that the Tughlaq had a very tolerant policy towards his non-Muslim subjects and the ulema disagreed with him. He moved away from Delhi to avoid the ulema’s wrath. Anyway, the capital had to move back to Delhi after a two-year experiment for lack of amenities in Daulatabad. As we observed earlier on, that whole disastrous process caused a lot of damage to the development of the new language. No work could be done in Delhi due to the upheaval and neither was any work done in the south. However, Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesu Darz stayed on in the Deccan and he died there. The Khwaja had produced voluminous work in Arabic, Farsi as well as in the new language. His most well-known work is M’eraj-ul-Ashiqeen. Ram Babu Saksena thinks that M’eraj-ul-Ashiqeen has no literary value. Ali Jawad Zaidi has said that it is not certain who

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wrote M’eraj-ul-Ashiqeen 77. Unfortunately we have not been able to get hold of any works by Gesu Daraz. With those doubts we cannot really rule that M’eraj-ul-Ashiqeen is the first literary work in Urdu. Perhaps some new student, scholar or teacher will do some more research on this topic and ill this gap in the information.

Hazrath Khwaja Bandanawaz Gesudaraz(Rh) Born on the 13th of July 1321 / 4th :: Passed away on the 1st of November 1422 / 16th Dhu al-Qadah 825

However, Gesu Daraz did provide the platform on which the first literary work in Urdu was produced. Gesu Daraz was a Sufi of the Chishtiyya order. These Sufis were always involved in Ashoora observances 78. It is strongly likely that when Gesu Daraz moved to Deccan, he introduced the Ashoora ritual and its accompanying rites to the Muslims of the south. This was a way to introduce the Prophet of Islam and his progeny with a lot of emotionalism. The general Muslim population must have got involved in the practice. As we noted earlier, the Muslim presence in Kerala has been there all the same. But no development on the new language took place in that area in spite of the 500 year long Muslim presence. Why was that? Our theory about this is simple. Kerala and the rest of that area is a Malyalam speaking area. Malyalam is a Dravidian language. Even though when Muslims came they brought there language which was Arabic, with them, the new growing population of Muslims remained Malyalam-speaking. All Muslim chronicles in Kerala are documented in Zaidi, p. 37-38 Rizvi, Saiyid Athar Abbas; A Socio-Intellectual History of the Isna Ashari Shi’is in India, Ma’rifat Publishing House, Canberra, 1986, p. 294-295 77 78

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Malyalam. They accepted the holy Qur’an in Arabic but documented their own affairs in their local language. As opposed to that, the Muslim conquerors who came to Delhi, Punjab and other northern areas, were Farsi speaking, whether they came from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran or even from Turkish regions. Farsi is a language from the Indo-Iranian sub-branch of the Proto-IndoEuropean family of languages. The northern parts of India were speaking one or another dialect of the Prakrit, which we have identified as a set of dialects in the Indo-Aryan sub-branch of the Proto-Indo-European family of languages. That linguistic affinity helped ameliorate a mixed local language that we now know as Urdu/Hindi. So, how could a tradition of the new language grew and flourished in the Deccan in Hyderabad area? After all, that area that we know today as Hyderabad is within a Dravidian influenced area. The answer to that question lies in the fact that the early rulers of the Deccan helped create and popularize the new language. The first Bahmani kingdom was established in 1347 during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq at Delhi by a Tajik-Persian commander. Nearly a hundred years later when the Bahmani kingdom became weak, more new Muslim kingdoms were established in those areas. The most prominent of them all was the Qutub Shahi kingdom of Golcunda which was established in 1518 A.D. The rulers of the Qutub Shahi kingdom were from the Turkic tribe of Qara Quyunlu. There were two common things between the Tajik-Persians and the Turkic Qara Quyunlu. They were both Farsi-speaking and they were Shi’a Muslims. Thus both became instrumental in establishing the Ashoora observance in their kingdoms. This practice, as we noted, may have continued from the time of Gesu Daraz. Quli Qutub Shah was one of the rulers at Golcunda. His year of death is 1611 79. Quli Qutub Shah wrote Marsiyya for Imam Husayn in a language which was a mix of Farsi with local dialects(both from the south as well as from the north). He thus popularized a new dialect for this poetry. The poetry had appeal in the masses due to its passion and it had the royal patronage. The city of Hyderabad is in the same vicinity. That is how a tradition of Deccani Urdu took roots in that area which we know as such today. This is the beginning of literary Urdu. Marsiyya in this context includes every type of lamentation poetry. The modern Urdu Marsiyya that we know today as it consist of six-line stanzas took shape after nearly two hundred years of Quli Qutub Shah’s time. Marsiyya moved from Deccan to Delhi and then to Lucknow where it was perfected by Meer Anees and Mirza Dabeer.

79

Zaidi, Ali Jawad; A History of Urdu Literature, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi 1993, p.39

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GHAZAL AND OTHER GENRES IN URDU The first poet of Urdu Ghazal is Vali Dakani, or more correctly, Vali Gujrati. His year of death was considered to be 1747. However, modern research has shown that Vali had died at a younger age in 1707 80. Vali stands as the connection of Urdu that developed in the Deccan with the north, specifically Delhi. In the previous sections we have explored the origins and early development of Urdu, both as a vernacular as well as a literary language. We have shown the religious background of the language and have noted the influence of the Sufis in India on the evolving language. WE have also noted the development of Urdu Marsiyya in the Dakani dialect which forms the first documented Urdu poetry. Can all this make a case for Urdu as a religious language? We will answer that and bring our discussion to a conclusion in the next section.

CONCLUSION We began this study with the question: IS URDU A RELIGIOUS LANGUGAE? In that pursuit we explored the origin and early beginnings of the languages of India and where they actually came from. Let us first say a few words as to how and why did we formulate that specific question. As we saw in our travels through history, Urdu took shape in the Indian sub-continent after the arrival of Muslims in this part of the world. The very basic conclusion from that fact is that Urdu as a language had been labeled from the day of its very inception 81 as the language of Muslims (of India). People, scholars and the laity both, have been questioning that premise for the last two hundred years. Because of that inherent nature of that debate, people on both sides have argued their case with strong feelings – more feelings and sentiments than rational argumentation based on historical and scientific evidence. In this study we have tried to present to our readers a more rational view of that debate. The language issue, most of the time, becomes emotional and heated debates result from any such discussion. We have tried to stay above any emotionalism in this study. Only our readers will decide as to how successful we have been in that effort. The basic observations that we have made in this exploratory article can be summarized as follows:

Sadiq, M.; A History of Urdu Literature, O.U.P., 1964, p.60 As we have discussed, the idea of ‘inception’ of a new language as if it was the result of a big bang, is not appropriate. But the expression here wants to give an impression of the earliest beginnings. 80 81

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(1) Urdu is a language of India-Pakistan. It is a language of the IndoAryan family, with borrowings from Farsi, Arabic and some other languages. Its grammar is based on KhaRi Boli, a dialect which came off the Prakrit of western Uttar Pradesh in north India. (2) The basic reason that the new language came into being was a religio-cultural clash between the settler-invaders and the local population, back in the 800s and 900s. (3) The influence of the early Muslim holy men, the Sufis, is very apparent on the language. (4) The language began as a spoken language and then over the years the literary form of the language took shape. (5) The early Urdu literature is predominantly religious in nature, or, it documents religious ideas, practices and emotions. (6) Politics had played a very significant role in the evolution of the language, both the spoken word as well as the literary form. (7) In spite of its very clear religious underpinnings, the language does carry a very strong current of pluralism in it. Not only that, the language was adopted by a very large non-Muslim population in India. That helped the pluralistic and tolerant nature of the Indian society. (8) Because of the political changes in the society, the pluralistic cause of the language suffered a number of set backs. One of those setbacks was that the new language was perceived as a religious language, or, at least a language belonging to a particular religious group, in some quarters. Let us see what the causes of that perception were. I am going to use the term “perception” from now on for that sentiment, because it is a controversial issue. The very first indication of that perception came from a statement that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had made in the late 19th century. Sir Syed was born in Delhi(1819) when the Mughal Sultanate had already begun its slippery downfall. He saw how the British were destroying each and every cultural and religious institution that had been established by the Muslim civilization of India over a period of 800 years. He realized that there was no chance that the Indians would be able to get rid of the British by force of arms – a very direct result of 1857 disaster. He appealed to his people to adopt the new language Urdu as their national identity. This statement was read in two major groups of the population of India totally differently, while Sir Syed himself had meant it somewhat differently than the two groups had perceived it, and the ruling British used it to their own advantage. Sir Syed’s initial intent in that statement was to show inclusiveness of the Indian Muslims as Indian nationals. For the past 800 years Muslim’s language of the royal court as well as their national URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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language had been Farsi. Sir Syed was trying to persuade his community to forsake that foreign language in favour of a local Indian language which incidentally, had been accepted as the vernacular of the educated middle class irrespective of their religion. At the same time, he was trying to create some kind of solidarity within the larger Muslim community of India via a common language – this was the same sentiment under which the Quaid-e-Azam would choose Urdu as the national language of Pakistan nearly fifty years later. In addition to that, Sir Syed had made yet another statement which, though in his mind was a reasonable statement, was taken negatively by the non-Muslim majority of India. He had said that while Urdu was the language of the Shurafa, Hindi was the language of the lowers classes, the farmers and labourers. It was very true. The educated class of Indians (irrespective of their religious preferences) spoke strictly Urdu while the lower classes spoke the various dialects of Braj, Avadhi, Maithli, Poorbi and many other such like. The anti-Urdu quarters rose up against that statement and labeled it sectarian. The Muslims of India felt gratified by their language being rated so highly and honourably. The non-Muslim majority felt resentful at that development and derided the statements made by Sir Syed. They perceived the Muslim leadership as separatists on the language issue. The British saw this as a golden opportunity to execute their divide-and-rule policy in India. They initiated the project of Fort William College at Calcutta 82 which would publish books on Indian subjects printed in both Devnagri as well as Nast’aleeq – thus giving rise to two separate languages out of the common Indian vernacular and putting a stamp of the government’s approval on it 83. These and other related forces worked together to create the perception at the popular level that Urdu was a language exclusively of the Muslims. When Pakistan was created in 1947 and Urdu was declared as the national language of Pakistan, that perception hardened on both sides of the border. After all, Pakistan was created as an Islamic country. All those things hurt the cause of Urdu in multiple ways: (A) Since Pakistan was created as an Islamic country, and the language of Islam is supposed to be Arabic, the Pakistani authorities, teachers and scholars worked overtime to intensify the relationship of Urdu with Arabic. Many scholars, mainly from Actually the Fort William College was established in Calcutta in 1800. The purpose of the college was to train the East India Company officers in Indian languages and Indian affairs in general. Sir Syed is reported to have made those statements in the late 1800s. The college seems to have intensified its activities in the twin languages after that. 83 This topic has been thoroughly treated by Dr. Abdul Jamil Khan; Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide(Politics of Languge), Algora Publishing, 2006. Dr. Jamil is actually a medical doctor. He was involved in children’s speech therapy. His professional work and studies led him into working on Indian languages and their evolution 82

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Punjab, seriously argued that Urdu had no relationship with other Indian languages and that it was derived from Arabic (they present the Nasta’aleeq 84 script as the evidence to that). That effort is still active in some quarters of Pakistan and more and more Arabic words and terms are being pushed down into Pakistani Urdu. At the same time, local Indian words are being dropped from use. That is the main reason that no substantial work has been done in Pakistan in the field of linguistics. Urdu is being driven away from its roots. Teachers, students and researchers in Pakistan have to realize that much as learning of Farsi and Arabic is necessary to know good Urdu, without a basic knowledge of Sanskrit and the Indian Prakrits no substantial work can be done on Urdu. There is no effort at college level in Pakistan to learn and teach Sanskrit or even the Prakrits. (B) On the other side of the border, right after the partition, the perception hardened that Urdu was a foreign language, a language of the Muslims who had already separated in a new country called Pakistan and therefore, they had taken their language with them to the new country. A new effort took shape to do away with Urdu completely. The main targets for that process were the provinces of U.P., Bihar and Delhi. Urdu was banished overnight from schools. Teaching of the Devnagri script was made compulsory. The irony of the situation was that the education minister of the central government was Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad, a great proponent of the Urdu language. He remained in that position until his death in 1958. Obviously the policy was aggressively executed by other people such as Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pandit Vallabh Pant. Of course, Gandhi ji’s protective hand patronized that policy. In spite of the fact that Azad himself had declared Gandhi as his mentor, he could not do a thing to protect Urdu in India. The language was completely obliterated at the high school level in those three states during the same eleven years that Azad held the ministry of education. My own schooling up to higher secondary level was done at Jubilee College, Lucknow. Older teachers at the institution used to tell me that there were two professorships in the college, one for Urdu that was held by the famous Urdu poet Hamidullah Afsar and the other for Hindi that was held by Shri Dhar Singh. They were both seen like brothers and would arrive together every morning riding the same Tonga. When I joined Jubilee Collge in 1954 in 9th grade, Hamidullah Afsar had already retired, the Urdu chair had been abolished and Shri Dhar Singh had become the Principal of the college where he remained until I graduated. We have written elsewhere under a different context on this topic and have shown that the actual script for the Indo-Aryan languages is the Devnagari not Nasta’qleeq which is a borrowed script.

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The only sane institution in India, that has preserved the language to a certain extent is the Bombay film industry. That is why I have included a section on that topic in this article. A sort of a revival did take place in India in the 1980s for bringing back Urdu at a popular level. However that anti-Urdu campaign of nearly four decades had created such a gap in Urdu education and the politics had changed so much that now Urdu graduates in India go unemployed – there are no jobs where the Urdu graduates can fit in India. The other aspect of the situation is that my nieces come from Delhi and they know all the Urdu poetry but cannot read a word of Nast’aleeq. Boys and girls coming from India are seen reciting, Nawha, Marsiyya and Qaseeda written either in Devnagri or in Latin script. Pakistan tells a totally different story. After three generations, the young men and women of the country are now speaking fluent Urdu. Even the Karachi Khojas and Memons are speaking Urdu without any Gujrati accent. But it is a new kind of Urdu. At the popular level it has been corrupted by bad grammar and inaccurate pronunciation under the influence of local dialects and the high register of the language has been overloaded with Arabic words and expressions. Everyone speaks their own language and they insist on its correctness. They feel it is their right to modify the language as they wish and feel. The Urdu that is being used in Pakistani newspapers and TV channels is really pathetic. The main reason for that is that anchors and chat-show hosts are appointed in business interests under the influence of nepotism. Most of them do not have proper education in the art and science of communication neither in language skills. The situation in India is somewhat more hopeful. It appears that Urdu in India is hard to die. More substantial literature is being published in India. Various institutions are reprinting the great classics such as The Complete Works of Prem Chand. I was listening to an Indian TV news report. This is how the report went:

जैन कम्युिनट को अल् संख्य कम्युिनट करार दे �दया

गया असेम्बल ने मंजरू � दे द�

‫ﺟﻴﻦ ﮐﻤﻴﻮﻧﮣﯽ ﮐﻮ ﺍﻟﭗ ﺳﻦﮐﻬﻴﮏ ﮐﻤﻴﻮﻧﮣﯽ ﻗﺮﺍﺭ ﺩے ﺩﻳﺎ ﮔﻴﺎ۔ ﺍﺳﻤﺐﻟﯽ ﻧﮯ‬ ‫ﻣﻨﻈﻮﺭی ﺩے ﺩی۔‬ Jayn community ko alp-sankhyak community qaraar de diya gaya assembly ne manzoori de di URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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In this whole item the only word that can be said to be purely Hindi is the term ALP-SANKHYAK, which translates as ‘a minority.’ The rest of the language is all Urdu, except the words “community” and “assembly,” which are both English but have since long been fully absorbed in Urdu. In fact, QARAR and MANZOOR both are Arabic words‫۔‬ Obviously, those who wanted to Hindi-ize the Indian language had no other recourse but to fall back on Braj and Avadhi dialects (more Braj and less Avadhi). For higher register words they had to go back and search in Sanskrit (as the example above shows). That has made the language difficult and less supple. And that is why we see people using KITAB instead of POTHI or PUSTAK, WAQT instead of SAMAY and such words as KAGHAZ, QALAM and GARM extensively. In fact the Hindi speakers have forgotten certain words from the old Indian languages and use the Arabic or Farsi words more extensively. Much as when I hear a younger Hindi speaker call me on the telephone I feel like my local grocer in Lucknow is calling me, that gives us a lot of hope for the language. Is it linguistic chauvinism? May be – but that is not of great concern, not to me. Urdu in India has been accepted as an Indian exotica. Weddings and other such parties are usually rounded up with an item of Ghazal recitals. Pakistan’s case does concern me. Why? To answer that question we have to go back to our original question. Is Urdu a religious language? That is what a majority of Pakistanis think. It is their country and their language – they own both. They will twist and turn both every which way they want. And that is how the early leaders in India had looked at the language. Otherwise there was no reason for embarking on an aggressive campaign to obliterate Urdu from schools at the governmental level. The Congress leaders in the 1940s and 50s felt insecure in that Urdu was a Muslim language and its cultural influence was much too strong because of its religious character. It had to be replaced with a Hindu language. An episode, interesting though it is, I have not found any documented evidence to its authenticity, is worth quoting here. A central minister was traveling by train from Delhi to Calcutta. The Howra Mail (the name of the train) used to stop for an hour at Lucknow Chahar Baagh Station on its way from Delhi to Calcutta. The minister’s daughter was a student at Lucknow University. When she heard that her father was on the train, she came to the Railaway Station to meet him. They met. And then she said: “Achcha Pita Ji, Khuda Hafiz,” and left. The minister was incensed and turned to his aid saying: “That is why I hate Urdu, it has the potential to change people’s faith.” This story may or may not be true but it captures the sentiment carried by the political elite of India in the 1950s. A very simple fact of sociology is that languages do not have religions. People do. Languages can be used to document religious URDU- The First and the Last Religious Language: by Syed-Mohsin Naquvi

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literature – some languages do it better than others. A language can be influenced by a particular religion, and conversely, a language can influence the face of a religion. We saw both those phenomena during our study of the history of evolution of Urdu. In fact there are some specific elements in the evolution of Urdu which are unique to that language. (1) Urdu is the only language of the world which came into being due to a religio-cultural clash between two communities. (2) The community who felt Urdu as their language, owned it. (3) But the entire population of north India had wholeheartedly accepted Urdu as their language until political forces came into play. Given those facts, even if we accept, beyond all reason, that Urdu is a religious language and Muslims created it, which is definitely not true; that does not give the Muslims of India-Pakistan a monopoly right on the language. Language is like a mother. Anyone who loves a language and adopts it as his/her own, the language becomes his or her. I will give two examples here. Look at Vladimir Nobokov. He came from Russia. Went to Cambridge and became an excellent English writer. Just one of his works ‘Lolita’ is sufficient to show that. It stands at par in its quality of language with any modern classic of fiction in England or in the US. Look at Edward Saeed. He came from Palestine. Was educated at Princeton and spent all his life teaching English at Columbia in New York. Logically a language cannot belong to a single person because language is a means of communication between two parties. Those who want to limit Urdu belonging to a particular community or religious, ethnic, political or geographical group are actually denying the universality and pluralism of the language. The reason we wrote all this is the fact that on both sides of the border where Urdu is being used as a vernacular, strong feelings exist that Urdu belongs to this community and it does not belong to that community. When we began writing this in the forum, everyone (at least most of the ones who wrote) was of the opinion that it was a useless debate, that it was already settled that Urdu was not a language belonging to Muslims only. Perhaps within a limited circle of intelligent and educated people that is so. It is all right for a group of like minded people to come together and have dinner, shake hands and part agreeing with each other. But on this issue we have 170 million people on one side of the border who believe that Urdu is a Muslim language so they want to twist and turn it every which way they want; and on the other side of the

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border there are several hundred million people who hate the language only because it is perceived as a Muslim language. Even if we all agree in this forum on this point, it does not solve the problem of Urdu’s decline both as an instrument or preserving an international literary database as well as communication vehicle. We have got to work relentlessly on preserving the language by insisting on the correct grammar and accurate idiom. We have to condemn, on the one side, the unnecessary and unnatural move to load the already developed language with the import of 800 year old Prakrit words and idioms, and on the other side we must discourage the Punjabi-ization of the language in Pakistan. We have to encourage the import of new terms into Urdu to enhance its ability to document technology and science. At the same time, we have to stop using Arabicized terms for European names and terminologies fro which correct sounds exist in Urdu. For example, why should we call Plato Aflatoon with a soft Arabic ‘T’ and with an ‘F’ instead of the ‘P’ when we have the correct sound for both ‘P’ and ‘T’ in Urdu? Is it linguistic chauvinism? May be. But that kind of criticism and labelling by liberals does not bother me, because I care much more about linguistic accuracy and correctness than about political correctness. There are things which please the eye, such as a blossoming rose, and there are things which don’t, such as a heap of stinking dung. There are no two ways about it. I will therefore, conclude this with a few lines of Iqbal:

‫ﺍﭘﻨﮯ ﺑﻬﯽ ﺧﻔﺎ ﻣﺠﻪ ﺳﮯ ﮨﻴﮟ ﺑﻴﮕﺎﻧﮯ ﺑﻬﯽ ﻧﺎﺧﻮﺵ‬ ‫ﻣﻴﮟ ﺯﮨﺮِ ﮨﻼﮨﻞ ﮐﻮ ﮐﺒﻬﯽ ﮐﮩہ ﻧہ ﺳﮑﺎ ﻗﻨﺪ‬ ‫ﻣﺸﮑﻞ ﮨﮯ ﮐہ ﺍک ﺑﻨﺪﮦ ﺣﻖ ﺑﻴﻦ ﻭ ﺣﻖ ﺍﻧﺪﻳﺶ‬ ‫ﺧﺎﺷﺎک ﮐﮯ ﺗﻮﺩے ﮐﻮ ﮐﮩﮯ ﮐﻮﮦِ ﺩﻣﺎﻭﻧﺪ‬ Apne bhi khafa mujh se haiN begane bhi na khush Mai.N zahr-e-halahal ko kabhi kah na saka qand Mushkil hai k eek banda-e haq been-o-haq andesh Khaashaak k etude to kahe koh-e-Damavand Please do not hesitate to send your comment and critcism on this article to the author. E-mail address: [email protected]

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