Even as a child , I was intrigued by the this Hindi/Urdu controversy and confusion. When I used listen to beautiful Indian songs, they used to call Hindi , sounded similar to our Pakistani Urdu songs , But when listening to All India Radio Hindi
and Radio Pakistan Urdu news bulletins , they sounded bit different.
Then when as a child 1963/1964 , we visited India to meet our other half of family , My maternal Uncle was in Patna , Bihar and my paternal uncle was in Lucknow , U.P. My Uncle Was a provincial agricultural secretary , and his two close friends were provincial ministers, I can still remember the name of one of them , Biswanath Singh , they kindly invited us for a family dinner , knowing that we came from Pakistan , I was amazed by their perfect Urdu, they called Hindi and again in Lucknow , it was a shock of our lifetime that
not only the elite , even the sweepress spoke such perfect Urdu , that I never heard in Pakistan . One day I could not control my curiosity and asked my uncle about this , why this language is called by two names and written differently when it sounds exactly the same. His reply was that : This beautiful language that had been artificially pulled in different directions by two arrogant and ignorant religious communities , trying very hard to prove that they are two different languages , contrary to the ground reality . Now I find his words very true.
Since then I always wanted to break the "so called Da -Vinci code" of this Urdu/Hindi mystery.
This a history of evolution of a great language spanning a vast area of Indian sub-continent , covering northern and central India , Delhi , U.P. Madhya Pradesh , Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkand ,Uttarakhand , Rajasthan ,Chattishgar ,
Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. This was quite unique in itself as all other Indian sub-continental languages were confined to one region or state only.
It has emerged from Middle Indo-Aryan vernaculars of North and Central India , direct descendent of Sankskrit through Prakrit .This developing language originally written in Brahmini script but since 11th century AD, it has been written with the Devanagari script. It gradually took formal shape in around ninth and tenth centuries , based on the dialects spoken around Delhi (Khariboli ) and Lucknow (Awadhi ) It has been called by different names ,such as Hindavi , Hindustani , Dehlavi , Zaban -e-Urdu , Hindi , Rekhta .
Amir Khusro, who lived in 13th century used Hindustani lingua franka in his writings and referred to the language as Hindavi.
The emerging common dialect, Hindustani based on the structure of the dialect called Khariboli and Awadhi , greatly influenced by Persian and Arabic and Turkic vocabulary during the Muslim rulers , who dominated Indian politics for 800 years.
This was quite natural , philosophically status of language changes according to time and circumstances and people accept the change for overall interest of the society, as we can see that all great languages evolved and changed with time and history , as it happened with English , was greatly influenced by other European languages , mainly French.
This was also true for all other Indian languages , as they did not escape this historical influence.
Unfortunately Muslim ruling establishment changed the script of this evolving Hindustani language and started writing in Perso-Arabic script. Thus a division gradually developed between Hindus who chose to write Hindi-Urdu in
Devanagri script, mainly in the rural areas and Muslims and some urban Hindus who chose to write in Persian script.
This divergence of scripts did not happen with other Indian languages , although they all had been equally influenced by Persian and Arabic in varying degrees. Thus the literary style written in Persian script , in time it came to be called URDU.
and other style written in Devanagari script as Hindi. However spoken colloquial Hindi and Urdu are all but indistinguishable . Before Partition of India, the term Hindustani, Urdu and Hindi were synonymous; all covered what would be called Urdu and Hindi today.
Urdu-Hindi (Hindustani ) ,shares common ancestry ,grammer and phonology.
It has been written in Devanagri ,Persian , Kaithi and Roman script, which been used since the days of British Raj, partly as a result of availability and low cost of Roman printing presses. Thus Roman way of writing was popular among Pakistani and Indian Christians. The Bible Society of of India publishes Roman Urdu Bibles.
Hindustani is also spoken Fiji by almost half of population. Similarly it is spoken in Carribian ,such as Suriname, Guana, Trinidad, Tobogo and Belize. They speak a dialect similat to what is commonly called Bhojpuri dialect of eastern U.P. and western Bihar.
Hindustani (Urdu -Persian script) maintained its dominance during entire Muslim rule over Hindustani (Hindi -Devanagari script ) .
In 1837, the British East India company replaced Persian with local vernacular in various provinces as the official and court languages. In North India, Urdu in Persian script instead of Hindi in Devanagari script was chosen to replace Persian.
The most immediate reason for the controversy is believed to be the contradictory language policy in North India in 1860s. While the then government encouraged both Hindi and Urdu as a medium of education in school, it discouraged Hindi or Nagari script for official purposes. This policy gave rise to conflict between students educated in Hindi or Urdu for the competition of government jobs, which eventually took on a communal form. Muslims and urban Hindus were in favour of Urdu as this gave them advantages , while the vast majority of rural Hindus were against this policy for exactly opposite reasons. Later it developed into several Hindi movements in the late 19th. and early 20th century. On the other hand organizations such as Anjuman
Taraqqi -e-Urdu were formed for the advocacy of Urdu. Gradually its communal, parochial and political influences made this controversy more and more complicated.
Urdu never took root in the soil of rural India. One reason for this was its snobbish aversion to the dialects of the regions , and tried to remain confined to the urban educated elite. A living language cannot ignore its rural dialects which were very rich in themselves , such as Bhojpuri of eastern UP and western Bihar . Urdu flourished under the patronage of Muslim rulers and Nawabs , but common people hardly developed any emotional attachment with it as a result it never got the environment for its natural growth.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's observation before the education commission that Urdu was the language of gentry and Hindi that of Vulgar, was repudiated by his contemporary Hindi protagonist Harish Chander, retorted that " Urdu was the language of dancing girls and prostitutes. Both statements were very insensitive, wrong and shows their ignorance of their own mother tongue .You cannot ignore the rural dialects (vulgar ) or the formal grand style , without these any language will be very poor indeed.
Had Muslim thinkers been honest to develop Urdu in the literary tradition of this its native land with local script , Indian masses would have perhaps lapped it. Urdu literature , Poerty and ghazals printed in Devanagri script is much more
in sale than its pront in Persian script. But the obsession of the Muslim thinkers to carry forward Perso-Arabic legasy of Urdu identified this language with the identity of Muslims as a separate social entity and created major hinderance for it to become a language of common Indians, leading it to be confined to a very minority of Muslim of North India. On the other hand Hindustani written in Devanagri script was popular among the vast majority, almost over half of native Indians of northern and central India. It successfully accomodated and embraced all regional dialects as part of broader literary tradition at the same time did not reject completely its Persian-Arabic influences.
As stated above , over identification of Urdu with Islamic cultural and religious expressions and its politicisation right from the days of Sir Syed Ahmad marred its growth and acceptance by majority Hindus. When the battle for linguistic hegemony of Urdu
was lost issue was politicised by then Muslim leadership and Urdu became a part of communal politics during Freedom movement. With two nation theory coming to centre-stage of Muslim politics, Urdu was linked to Muslim identity, although it was
mother tongue of only small minority of Indian Muslims. At the height of partition Muslims under the leadership of Muslim League raised the slogan-"Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan" with "Urdu-Muslim_Pakistan.
This wide divergence of of practically one language in 1920s was deplored by Gandhi who exhorted the re-merging of both Hindi and Urdu naming it Hindustani written in both Nagari and persian scripts.
Urdu-Hindi Post Partition :
Urdu became State language of Pakistan, where only around five percent immigrants from India spoke as their mother tongue , majority natives spoke different regional languages. This state language went over drive towards further Persianisation .
Similarly in India, under government encouragement, the officially sponsored version of the Khari-boli dialect has undergone a sea change, with the heavy introduction of Sanskrit vocabulary in Khariboli. This policy was mainly influenced by
post partition nationalistic pride in India's ancient culture and language, Sanskrit, separation of Muslim majority areas to form Pakistan and to make it more palatable to its non Hindi speaking southern states.
However this official Indian state policy did not succeed in making this new Sanskritised version popular among the northern and central Indian Hindi speaking massess. and it remained largely confined politicians and state media.
In its non-Sanskritised form, the Khariboli-based dialect is the normal and principal dialect used in in Hindi cinema, which is identical to what we know as Urdu. It is almost exclusively used in contemporary Hindi television serials, songs,
education, and of course, in normal daily speech in almost all the urban regions of north India. The rural dialect varies from region to region. We in Pakistan of late became confident in using some Sankritised words such as "Sohni Dharti" ,
In post partition India , state adoption of Devanagari script (Hindi-Urdu) , almost all native speakers of north and central India , including Muslims now adopted this for socio-economic reasons. Urdu in Persian script gradually loosing
as its charm and influence as the older generation fades away, ultimately it will remain confined to few enthusiasts and academics.
Urdu's (Hindustani -in Persian script ) position in Pakistan is does not look very bright either. As this is only spoken as mother tongue by only less than ten percent of Mohajir population. Although at present it occupies a central position,
but eventually the regional languages will rightfully demand and replace it with their own native languages.
Philosophically for a language to survive requires a grass root level regional base, on its own native homeland, without that can only remain relevant to academia but cannot have natural growth.
Hindustani (Hindi ) written in Devanagari script will progress and prosper due to the fact already mentioned, such as it is rooted in the native homeland, spoken by over half of Indian population. Now even most Indian Muslims have
adopted due to socio-economic reasons. It has been able to accomodate regional dialects, establishing its rural base. and most importantly it has been able to accept and accommodate the Persian, Arabic vocabulary , we normally
associate with Urdu, because they rightly realised that Persian and Arabic influences has made this language more beautiful, sophisticated and grand, which had already become popular with the masses.
Urdu-written in Persian may survive only academically in India and in Pakistan may be continued to be written as it is today , until it is pushed to the fringes by future political developments. This process will be hastened , if we , the
Urdu speaking Mohajir community did not abandon ethnic politics and stop reminding others of our fore fathers contribution in the making of Pakistan and demand unrealistic political and economic share , at the cost of our
native brothers. For it was our forefathers who were responsible for creating this controversy of Urdu-Hindi , by insisting to retain Persian script to maintain our cultural, economic hegemony over the majority native Hindus of northern and central India.
In humble opinion, if both Urdu-Hindi , simultaneously adapts Roman script , finally burying this artificial division for the greater glory and unity of this great language, and enhance its prestige and popularity even further.
The younger generation of Urdu-Hindi speaking people around the world , and those of English medium schools or children of Indian and Pakistani diasphora can speak but cannot write in traditional scripts.
They have already been communicating in Romanised script , in internet and text messaging . It will really be a blessing for these sections of people to maintain their linguistic and cultural heritage.
I know this will take time , but I am confident it will happen due to popular demand by the new generations , who hopefully will be able to rise above narrow religious , communal and nationalistic politics of the sub-continent.
There will be strong resistance both in India and Pakistan . Many in Pakistan will consider this as a threat to its separate identity and sovereignty and a grand conspiracy.
Will it affect our Independence and sovereignity ? certainly not !
There have been many examples of sovereign states having a common language such as Americans, Canadians , Arabs and Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh can preserve their independence and separate identity despite sharing a common
Bengali script with west Bengalis in India.
Will it affect us culturally ? Yes, mainly in a positive way.
It will help us regain and reclaim our ancestral cultural heritage based upon Gangetic and Indus civilizations .
We will be able to become more tolerant , become multicultural and secular and democratic , just like our Muslim Bengali brothers.
It will certainly promote friendly and peaceful co-existence with our Indian neighbour.
Will there be negative repercussions ? Its possible , just like if one is faced with suffocation , we open the window to let fresh air , but at the same time it allows flies to come in.
Urdu -Hindi , according to most linguists consider them to be two standardized forms of the same language, and consider the differences to be sociolinguistic and political. Unfortunately because of religious nationalism since partition and continued communal tensions, native speakers of both Hindi and Urdu frequently assert them to be completely distinct languages, despite the fact that they generally cannot tell the colloquial language apart.
Its virtually identical, to the point that speakers often cannot tell whether someone is speaking Hindi or Urdu. There are minor differences in vocabulary and pronunciations, but grammar is identical, both styles have heavy Persian and Sanskrit influences.
One cannot change or create an artificial language by writing in different script or giving different names. Any language can be written in any script, as spirit of language is not dependent upon its script. Its like , one can wear any clothing
or adapt any name, but you remain what you are.
If Urdu and Hindi counted together, is the third or second most widely spoken language in the world, over 500 million , after Mandarin and possibly English. But if you consider mandarin as a purely localised language based in mainland china and far east.
It cannot compete with Urdu-Hindi with its presence with its films, music ,literary publications worldwide.
Forget about narrow observations of UNESCO and its ranking of URDU. And stop crying: apne he watan mein hoon magar aaj akeli
In my view URDU-Hindi is worlds number one language !
URDU-HINDI-HINDUSTANI ZINDABAD
