Urdu remains very much Indian

SANDEEP SINHA

Panjab University is at the centre of a row over the proposal to merge the Urdu department in the proposed School of Foreign Languages along with French, German, Russian and Chinese. The university has faced flak for clubbing Urdu with foreign languages with the Punjab CM also expressing his surprise over the move and asking the university to refrain from doing so.

Urdu remains very much an Indian language. It originated in the aftermath of the arrival of the invading armies of the Muslim dynasties whose soldiers spoke the language and was called “Lashkar” after them. After the arrival of these armies into India and their intermingling with the local populace, it picked up words from Awadhi and Brij Bhasha or Khari Baoli. This admixture came to be known as “Zuban-e-Hind Maula” or the dialect spoken by the subjects of the emperor. The local population found it difficult to understand languages like Persian and Arabic and it helped bridge the communication gap.

The language further evolved during the time of Amir Khusrau, who is known for his Sufi views and qawwalis, and was called “rekhta,” and marked a transition that showed both its foreign and local influence. An example of this is the couplet: “Shaban-e-hijran daraz chun zulf, O roze wasalat ko umar kota; Sakhi, piya ko jo main na dekhun, toh kaise katun andheri ratiyan.” The language developed more during the period of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal period becoming a symbol of our Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, the hallmark of our culture of assimilation.

Since the Muslim rulers were of foreign origin, Persian remained the language of eminence while Urdu developed from the grassroots, indicating probably its local origin, symptomatic of the Indo-Islamic culture that subsisted till the British arrived. Urdu spread towards the South, mostly Deccan area and in the North. In Punjab, even today, there are common words used that have an Urdu origin like “Dariya” (river), “darakht” (tree) and “rihayish” (residence) that shows the commonality in the two parts – Charda Punjab and Lehnda Punjab. But while Punjabi on this side of the Ravi is written in Gurmukhi, from left to right, on the other side of the Ravi, it is written in Shahmukhi, from right to left, the way Urdu is written. Urdu created avenues with its acceptance as language of eminence. Till date, the terminology of the land revenue system, police and courts, remains couched mostly in Urdu terms even as the language itself languishes. The emperors patronized the Urdu language and the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was prime among them with Mirza Ghalib rated as among the first modern poet, compared by scholars to William Wordsworth and others. Zafar himself was a great poet, “Na kisi ki aankh ka nor hoon, na kisi ke dil ka qarar hoon…” is taught even today to budding singers.

Like all extant languages, Urdu is very much our own. Noted journalist Kuldip Nayyar began his career by working first for an Urdu paper. Decline of the Mughal empire and Partition restrained its growth but for sheer beauty and sophistication, the language remains a favourite. There are people who learn a language for the love of it. Max Mueller was a German Indologist, so were Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund who came out with their great work on the decline of Indus Valley Civilization. Schools of Oriental learning are common in universities abroad. Serious learning will depend on practical necessity, but to disown Urdu is to repudiate its glory and the composite culture that held the nation together.