Abdul Jamil Khan

URDU/HINDI:
AN ARTIFICIAL DIVIDE
The Politics of Language
URDU/HINDI:
AN ARTIFICIAL DIVIDE
African Heritage, Mesopotamian
Roots, Indian Culture & British
Colonialism
Abdul Jamil Khan
Algora Publishing
New York
© 2006 by Algora Publishing
All Rights Reserved
www.algora.com
No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by

Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976)
may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the
express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-10: 0-87586-437-6 (soft cover)
ISBN-10: 0-87586-438-4 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-87586-439-2 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data —
Khan, Abdul Jamil.

The Politics of Language. Urdu/Hindi: an artificial divide: African heritage,
Meso-
potamian roots, Indian culture & Bristish Colonialism / Abdul Jamil Khan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87586-438-4 (hard cover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-87586-437-6
(pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-87586-439-2 (ebook)
1. Urdu language—History. 2. Urdu language—Classification. 3. Hindi
language—History. 4. Hindi language—Classification. I. Title.
PK1971.K435 2006
491.4'3—dc22
2006010961
Cover Image: Hieroglyphs in stones, Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India

Image: © Paul C. Pet/zefa/Corbis
Photographer: Paul C. Pet
Printed in the United States

Abbreviations
ABBREVIATIONS
Languages
AKK - Akkadian
ARAB, AR - Arabic
ARAM - Aramaic
ASY - Assyrian
BR - Brahui
ELAM - Elamite
GO - Gond
GR - Greek
HEB - Hebrew
HIN - Hindi
HITT - Hittite
HUR - Hurrian
HUR-MIT - Hurrian-Mitanni
KA - Kannada
KUR - Kurux
LAT - Latin
LEXI - Lingua Extinctorum Indica
MA - Malayalam
MAL - Malto
PERS - Persian
PKT - Prakrit
SKT - Sanskrit
S, SUM - Sumerian
TA - Tamil
TE - Telugu
URD - Urdu
Language Families and Types
AA - Austro-Asiatic
AM - Austric-Munda
DR - Dravidian
GEAS - Grand Euro-Asiatic Super Family
vii
Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
IA - Indo-Aryan
IE - Indo-European
LBW - Language of Business and Work
LOR - Language of Rearing
LRR - Language of Religious Ritual
LST - Language of Science and Technology
MAF - Mesopotamia Ancient Family
MIA - Middle Indo-Aryan
MEIA - Middle East Indo-Asiatic
MUNDRAVI - Munda-Dravidian (hybrid)
NEAS - North-Euro-Asiatic-Super Family
NIA - Neo-Indo-Aryan
PDR - Proto-Dravidian
PIE - Proto-Indo-European
PED - Proto-Elamo-Dravidian
PII - Proto-Indo-Iranian
PIR - Proto-Iranian
SAH - South Asian Hindustani
SEAS - South-Euro-Asiatic-Super Family
SEM - Semitic
Language Scripts
ABS - Asokan Brahmi Script

APS - Arabic Persian Script
CFS - Cuneiform Script
DNS - Dev-Nagari Script
GRS - Greco-Roman Script
PAS - Phoenician-Aramic Script
Miscellaneous
AAA - Aligarh Alumni Association

AMU - Aligarh Muslim University
BJP - Bhartiya Janta Party
DC - Delhi College
DED - Dravidian Etymological Dictionary
viii
Abbreviations
Desi - term for person from Indian subcontinent

EIC - East India Company
FWC - Fort William College
HMS - Hindu Maha Sabha
HPSV - Hearing, Perception, Speech and Vocalization System
INC - Indian National Congress
IRS - Indian Religion System
IVC - Indus-Valley Culture
MAOC - Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College
ML - Muslim League
MP - Madhaya Pradesh
PWM - Progressive Writers’ Movement
RV - Rig Ved
RSS - Rashtriya Soyam Sevak Sangh
TB - Tad Bhav (altered Sanskrit word)
TS - Tat Sam (pure Sanskrit word)
UP - Uttar Pradesh
WW - World War
ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD 3
GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY 5
MESOPOTAMIAN LANGUAGES 5
HINDI/URDU LITERATURE 6
URDU/HINDI POLITICS 6
GLOBALISM IN URDU/HINDI 6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 9
LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 11
CHAPTER I. MESOPOTAMIAN ROOTS AND LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION 13

1.0 INTRODUCTION 13
1.1 SCIENTIFIC HISTORY: SUMMARIZED 14
1.2 TEXTBOOK HISTORY 16
1.3 EVOLUTION OF CLASSIFICATION 17
1.3.1 Language Families and Types 18
1.4 POLITICS OF LINGUISTIC SPLITS 19
1.5 A MYTHICAL DILEMMA IN MODERN LINGUISTICS 20
1.6 THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF SANSKRIT 21
1.7 INDOPHILISM AND INDO-EUROPEANISM 22
1.8 RACISM COAT-TAILED ON SANSKRIT 23
1.9 LINGUISTIC LIBERALISM 25
1.10 LANGUAGE AS A UTILITY IN INDIA 27
1.11 GRAMMAR TYPES AND SYNTAX 28
1.12 MIDDLE EAST FARMERS: PARENTS OF URDU/HINDI 29
1.13 CHAPTER SUMMARY 30
CHAPTER II. PHONETICS, LINGUISTICS AND GENETICS — DNA 33

2.0 INTRODUCTION 33
2.1 GENETICS BLUNTS LINGUISTIC RACISM 34
xi
2.2 SPEECH, GENES (FOXP2), AND LANGUAGE EVOLUTION 37

2.3 GREAT ARAB LINGUISTS 38
2.4 PHONETICS OF URDU/HINDI AND OTHERS 39
2.5 GROWTH, GRAMMAR, AND ACCIDENCE 41
2.6 CLASSIFICATION: A SCIENCE AND AN ART 44
2.7 RECONSTRUCTION BUSINESS 45
2.8 EMERGENCE OF SUPERFAMILIES 47
2.9 ALL CONNECTED — ONE LANGUAGE 49
2.10 INDO-ARYAN OR INDIAN URDU/HINDI 49
Urdu/Hindi 51
2.11 URDU/HINDI AND THE IE TIMELINE/GLOTTOCHROLOGY 53
Urdu/Hindi and Punjabi 53
Urdu/Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and Bengali 53
Kashmiri, Urdu/Hindi, and others 53
Persian and IA (Urdu/Hindi etc) 53
German/English, Persian, IA dialects 53
2.12 PROMOTION OF INDO-EUROPEANIST VIEWS 55
2.13 URDU/HINDI–DNA SCHEME 56
CHAPTER III. MIDDLE EAST: SOURCE OF SEMITIC, DRAVIDIAN AND

INDO-EUROPEAN/SANSKRIT 59
3.0 INTRODUCTION 59
3.1 WEST ASIAN THEATER (SUMERIANS) 59
3.1.1 Sumerian Religion and Culture 61
3.1.2 Sumerian Lingustics 61
3.1.3 Sumerian Vocabulary in Urdu/Hindi 62
3.1.4 Sumerian Literature 64
3.2 THE ELAMITES AND PROTO-ELAMO-DRAVIDIAN (PED) 66
3.2.1 Elamite “Dravidian” Language of Iran 68
3.3 CENTRAL ASIAN POLYGLOT (EARLIEST ARYAN-IE) 70
3.3.1 Languages (Hurrian, Hittite, etc.) 73
3.3.2 Hittite Phonemes 74
3.4 AKKADIAN/ASSYRIAN (OLDEST ARABIC) 74
3.5 EARLIEST PERSIAN 76
3.6 EARLIEST SANSKRIT (VEDIC) 78
3.7 MESOPOTAMIAN PHONETICS AND PIE 79
3.8 MESOPOTAMIAN GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY 80
CHAPTER IV. AUSTRIC-MUNDA-DRAVIDIAN AND OLDEST HINDI/URDU 83

4.0 INTRODUCTION 83
4.1 PRE-AUSTRIC PHASE 83
4.2 AUSTRIC PEOPLE’S CULTURE AND LANGUAGE 84
4.3 RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION 85
xii
Table of Contents
4.4 THE AUSTRIC OR MUNDA LANGUAGE 86

4.4.1 Munda and Its Dialects 87
4.4.2 Linguistic Features 88
4.4.3 Prefixes and Infixes of Austric-Munda 89
4.5 MUNDA-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY 89
4.6 MUNDA GENDER, NUMBER AND SYNTAX 90
4.7 GENERAL MUNDA VOCABULARY IN URDU/HINDI 91
4.8 THE DRAVIDIAN PHASE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION 94
4.9 MIDDLE EASTERN ROOTS OF DRAVIDIAN PEOPLE 95
4.10 DRAVIDIAN RELIGION AND CULTURE 96
4.11 PROTO-DRAVIDIAN IN PROTO-URDU 97
4.12 LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF PDR OR DRAVIDIAN (DR) 98
4.13 FIRST HYBRID-MUNDRAVI (PROTO-PKT/URDU) 98
4.14 DRAVIDIAN-SUFFIXES/PARTICLES IN URDU 99
4.15 VOCABULARY LOANS TO URDU/HINDI 100
4.16 DRAVIDIAN VERBS IN URDU 105
4.17 SOUND WORDS (ONOMATOPOEIA) 106
4.18 MUNDRAVI-PROTO-URDU 107
CHAPTER V. SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT AND OLD-URDU/HINDI 109

5.0 INTRODUCTION 109
5.1 WRITTEN RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS 109
5.2 HINDUISM OR THE INDIAN RELIGIOUS SYSTEM (IRS) 110
5.3 MARCH OF TIME (HISTORY) 112
5.4 SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT SYSTEM 114
5.5 LINGUISTICS OF SKT-PKT 115
5.5.1 SKT’s Inflection and Evolution 117
5.6 SANSKRIT AND URDU/HINDI 118
5.7 LOANS INTO SKT 118
5.8 URDU’S VOCABULARY FROM SKT 120
5.8.1 SKT – Verbs 120
5.8.2 Relationships, Flora, Places, and Names 122
5.8.3 Household Items 122
5.8.4 Professions and Titles/Ranks 122
5.8.5 Adjectives and Adverbs 122
5.8.6 Social-Cultural, and Life of Mind 123
5.8.7 SKT’s Help in Grammar 123
5.9 LITERARY LEGACY OF SKT 124
5.10 PRAKRIT-OLD URDU/HINDI 127
5.11 LEXICAL EVOLUTION IN OLD URDU/HINDI 128
5.12 PKT-PALI LITERATURE (WORLD CLASS) 129
5.13 LINGUA EXTINCTORUM INDICA (LEXI) (IN OLD URDU) 131
xiii
CHAPTER VI. ARABIC-PERSIAN: NEW SUBSTRATES FROM THE MIDDLE EAST 133
6.1 HISTORY’S MARCH 134
6.2 THE ROLE OF ARABIC/PERSIAN 135
6.3 ARABIC-PERSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS 137
6.4 ARABIC VERBS IN URDU/HINDI 138
6.5 PERSIAN VERBS IN URDU/HINDI 140
6.6 GENERAL VOCABULARY FROM ARABIC-PERSIAN 141
6.6.1 Relationship Words 141
6.6.2 Food, Fruits and Edibles, etc. 141
6.6.3 Household Items/Environment 141
6.6.6 Body Parts 144
6.6.7 Adjectives and Adverbs 144
6.6.8 Social-Cultural, and Life of Mind 145
6.6.9 Adverbs, Pronominal and Qualifying Particles 145
6.7 PLURAL MAKING/GRAMMAR 146
6.8 PERSIAN AFFIXES 147
6.9 A GLIMPSE OF ARABIC LITERATURE 148
6.10 GLIMPSE OF PERSIAN LITERATURE 150
CHAPTER VII. LANGUAGE OF SAINTS AND SULTANS 153

7.1 EVOLVING HINDIWI-HINDI AND DISPERSAL 155
7.2 VARIETY IN PHONETICS AND VOCABULARY 156
7.3 EARLIEST NAGARI-HINDI-URDU 157
7.4 EARLY POETS – WRITERS OF THE NORTH 159
7.4.3 Khusro–The Pioneer of the Term Hindi 160
7.4.4 Some Religious-Liberals of Urdu/Hindi 162
7.4.5 Some Secular Poets 164
7.5 GUJRAT AND URDU/HINDI 166
7.6 LANGUAGE OF THE SOUTH (DECCAN) 167
7.6.1 Deccani Sufi Poets 168
7.6.2 Poet King, Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah (1565–1612) 169
7.7 PRE-MOGHUL HINDI AND URDU 169
CHAPTER VIII. SECULAR MOGHULS AND SECULAR LANGUAGE 171

8.1 HISTORICAL MARCH – BABAR TO BRITISH (1500–1900) 171
8.2 THE MOGHULS’ “SECULAR CULTURAL STATE” 173
8.3 URDU’S DOSE OF TURKISH 174
8.4 URDU’S PLACE IN THE MOGHUL PHASE 175
8.6 URDU: NEW BRAND NAME AND CULTURE 179
xiv
Table of Contents
8.7 URDU’S LINGUISTIC GROWTH 180

8.8 POETS AND POETRY OF THE 18TH CENTURY – A GLIMPSE 181
8.8.1 Poets and Poetry of South India 182
8.8.2 Poets and Poetry of the North (East and West) 183
8.8.3 Poet Kings of Delhi 186
8.8.4 Lucknow Poetry and Culture (18th–19th Century) 186
8.8.5 Poets/Poetry of Other Places 189
8.9 PROSE: INDIAN UTILITY 191
8.9.1 Religious Utility Prose 192
8.9.2 Secular Prose 194
8.10 ADVENT OF LINGUISTIC SEPARATISM 195
CHAPTER IX. URDU: OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF BRITISH INDIA 197

9.1 LINGUISTIC DEVICES 198
9.2 THE EUROPEANS’ LOVE OF INDIA 198
9.3 SURGING BRITISH PHASE 199
9.4 ARYANISM’S BIRTH – THE IE FAMILY 199
9.5 COMMUNALISM; DIVIDE AND RULE 200
9.6 LANGUAGE OF EMPIRE – URDU 201
9.7 PROSE DEVELOPMENT 201
9.7.1 Fort William College (FWC) 202
9.7.2 Professors at FWC 202
9.7.3 FWC – Authors and Publications 204
9.8 DELHI COLLEGE (DC) 205
9.8.1 Urdu’s Evolution at Delhi College 206
9.8.2 Some Faculty of DC 206
9.8.3 Delhi Alumni’s Boost to Urdu 207
9.9 SURGING URDU PROSE 208
9.9.1 Ghalib and Urdu Prose (1797-1869) 208
9.10 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan/Scientific Society 209
9.10.1 Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) 209
9.10.2 MAOC or Scientific Society and Urdu’s Growth 211
9.10.3 Other (Non-MAOC) Scholars 212
9.11 REGIONAL SOCIETIES AND URDU PROSE 213
9.12 URDU POETRY IN THE 19TH CENTURY 215
9.12.1 North Indian Poets 215
9.12.2 South Indian Poets 219
9.12.3 Urdu Poetry of Suburbia/Village 219
9.13 BRITISH POETS OF URDU 220
9.14 19TH CENTURY UTILITY, URDU 222
xv
CHAPTER X. HINDI’S CREATOR: BRITISH BENGAL 225

10.1 SCRIPTS AND EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY 226
10.2 HINDI’S SEED IN BENGAL (AT FORT WILLIAM) 226
10.3 DEFINITION OF NEO-HINDI 228
10.4 BENGALI’S HELP IN HINDI 229
10.5 HINDI WRITERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY 230
10.6 HINDI’S GROWTH 232
10.7 HINDI POETRY 234
10.8 HINDI LITERACY AND JOURNALISM 235
10.9 HINDI/URDU AND POLITICAL “ARYANISM” 236
10.9.1 Love and Hate in the Aryan Family 236
10.10 HINDI’S EXTERNAL HELP 239
10.11 BENGAL VS. HINDUSTAN 240
10.12 RADICALS OF HINDI MOVEMENT 243
10.13 SECULAR CONSERVATIVE: SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN 245
10.14 HINDI-URDU DUEL 246
10.14.1 Second Round 1870s 248
10.14.2 Third Round 1880s 249
10.14.3 Fourth Round 1890s 249
10.14.4 Fifth Round 1900 249
10.15 LINGUISTIC RACISM AND FREEDOM MOVEMENTS 250
CHAPTER XI. PARTITION OF LANGUAGE, LAND, AND HEARTS 253
11.1 BRITISH LEGACY AND POLITICS 254
11.2 MOVERS AND SHAKERS, THE LEADERS 254
11.3 EVENTS, EPISODES AND EXHORTATIONS 255
11.4 PROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ MOVEMENT 259
11.5 URDU/HINDI DEBACLE AND FOLLOW-UP 260
11.5.1 GANDHI’S TWINS – URDU/HINDI 262
11.6 STOP HINDI/URDU DEBACLE 263
11.7 SHOCK AND RECOVERY OF INDIAN URDU 265
11.8 “ISLAMIC URDU” OF PAKISTAN 268
11.9 DIVIDED LANGUAGE OF DIVIDED HEARTS 271
CHAPTER XII. URDU THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY 275
12.1 MODERN POETS AND POETRY 275
12.2 MUSHAIRA CULTURE 283
12.3 MUSHAIRA – ORGANIZERS – POETS 285
12.4 URDU PROSE/CULTURAL FLOW 288
xvi
Table of Contents
CHAPTER XIII. HINDI’S EVOLUTION THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY 295

13.1 LANGUAGE EVOLUTION AND STREAMS 295
13.2 CREATIVITY AND SUBSTITUTION 297
13.3 PROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ MOVEMENT (PWM) AND HINDI 301
13.4 MODERN HINDI POETRY 301
13.4.1 RECENT POETRY 306
13.5 HINDI PROSE 308
13.6 PROSE LITERATURE (LIFE-OF-MIND PROSE) 309
13.7 MUSLIMS’ HINDI 310
13.8 ISLAMIC CREDENTIAL OF HINDI 310
13.8.1 HINDI’S RELIGIOUS ISLAMIC LITERATURE 311
13.9 HINDI’S ARABIC PHONEMES/DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT 312
CHAPTER XIV. URDU/HINDI: A SHOW BIZ POWER 315

14.1 FILM LANGUAGE – QUALITY CONTROL 316
14.2 BIRTH OF DRAMA/STAGE 317
14.3 COMMERCIAL STAGE: EVOLUTION 318
14.4 DRAMA ACADEMICS 319
14.5 DRAMA ANTHOLOGY 320
14.6 URDU OR HINDI OF THE FILM WORLD 321
14.7 FILM TITLES AND POLITICS 322
14.8 FILMS AND THE LUCKNOW URDU ACCENT 323
14.9 SILVER SCREEN ANTHEMS/SONGS 324
14.10 FILM SONGS, HUMANISM/DEVOTIONALISM 330
14.11 FILM’S VISION: ‘HINDUSTANIAT’ AND URDU 331
CHAPTER XV. URDU/HINDI OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD 333

15.1 UNITED KINGDOM/EUROPE 333
15.2 USA AND CANADA 335
15.2.1 URDU/HINDI – USA 336
15.2.2 LANGUAGE CENTERS/AUTHORS 337
15.2.3 URDU/HINDI JOURNALISM 339
15.2.4 POETRY AND MUSHAIRA CULTURE AND SINGERS’ CONCERT 339
15.2.5 AMERICAN POETS OF URDU AND HINDI 340
15.3 URDU/HINDI AROUND THE WORLD 344
15.4 URDU/HINDI FUTURE IN THE DIASPORA 346
xvii
CHAPTER XVI. URDU/HINDI SCRIPTS: COMMON ORIGIN 347

16.1 MYTHS ABOUT WRITING 347
16.2 A TIME LINE OF WRITING (GLOBAL) 349
16.3 SOUTH ASIANS’ POPULAR VIEW 350
16.4 PHONETIC ALPHABETS 350
16.5 EARLIEST ALPHABETS 351
16.6 ARAMAIC TO GREEK-ROMAN 353
16.7 URDU’S ARABIC SCRIPT 353
16.7.1 Miniature Letters/Connectivity/Vowels 356
16.8 NAGARI (HINDI) SCRIPT 357
16.9 ARABIC(-URDU)-NAGARI EXCHANGE 358
16.10 INDIAN WRITING SYSTEM SYLLABIC/ALPHABETIC 358
16.11 POLITICS OF SCRIPTS AND INDUS VALLEY 360
CHAPTER XVII. MESOPOTAMIAN REALISM AND RE-CLASSIFICATION 363

17.1 LINGUISTS AND THE CHURCH 364
17.2 MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION 366
17.3 LINGUISTIC ISSUES AND RECLASSIFICATION 368
17.3.1 Hypothetical Phonemes of PIE 368
17.3.2 Features of IE and Semitic 368
17.3.3 Degeneration and Glotto Chronology 369
17.4 TATSAM AND TAD-BHAV: DILEMMA/DECEPTIONS 371
17.5 MESOPOTAMIA ANCIENT FAMILY (MAF) 372
17.6 NEW CLASSIFICATION 377
17.6.1 The New Classification: Three Grand Super-Families 378
17.7 MEINDO-ASIATIC (MEIA) SUPER FAMILY 381
17.7.1 MEIA Cultural Dimension 381
17.7.2 Linguistic Links MEIA 385
17.8 HINDUSTANI-SOUTH ASIAN OR A SUPER FAMILY 385
BIBLIOGRAPHY 389
INDEX 397
xviii
Transliteration for Urdu/Hindi Words
*Note: Transliteration is based on S. K. Chatterji (1972) pp. XXV-XXXIV
1
FOREWORD
The story of Urdu/Hindi, the lingua franca of the Indo-Pakistani people, is the
story of one language with two separate scripts and with two names: Hindi, when
written in Nagari, and Urdu, when written in Arabic. This book is thorough, com-
plete, and free from religious dogmas, and the theories it elaborates are based solely
on evidence derived from studies of evolution, integrated with studies of man’s oldest
language, Sumerian. It exposes the Europeans’ policy (led by British India) in pio-
neering the concept of mythical races linked to linguistic families, i.e., Semitic, and
Aryan/IE, which led to anti-Semitism, religious nationalism, and India’s religion-
based partition and politics. The story of the division of language mirrors the latter
policy, which is unraveled in the book. Adopting the most recent evidence of the evo-
lution of human language, starting from an early base in Africa, the book records its
dispersal outward from the Middle East, or Mesopotamia, by farmers, and traces the
creation of new names, such as IE, Semitic, and Dravidian.
The book presents a cumulative/synthetic plan describing Urdu’s evolution
over some 10,000–12,000 years with major contributions from India’s two oldest lan-
guage families, Austric-Munda and Dravidian, followed much later by others such as
Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian; this apparently unsettles the currently held view of
Urdu/Hindi as a daughter dialect of Sanskrit, a 19th-century idea rooted in Hindu reli-
gious myth, the German myth of an Aryan race and its supposed hypothetical lan-
guage proto-Indo European (PIE) — a scholarly invention — the presumed mother
of IE, SKT, and grandmother of Latin and other languages which have been said to be
derived from them. A major and also unique segment on Mesopotamian languages
reveals the origin of Dravidian, Semitic, Arabic, and Indo-European (IE), including
Sanskrit, in the Middle East as hybrids of the simplest Sumerian, Elamite, etc.,
refuting all racial/religious claims of PIE, HEB, and SKT. The evolution of English is
cited in parallel in the book, and is shown to originate not from a dissolution of PIE/
Gothic but to be a cumulative from Pictic, Celtic, Latin, Old French, and Anglo-
Saxon German.
3
A new classification based on grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and geography,

and free from religion/racial myth, is presented as the other thesis in the book. As a
work of history the book carries a message, especially for the Indo-Pakistani people,
as it uncovers the very first vector, “mythical/racial” linguistics, as a proximate cause
for the partition, and also for escalating Hindu vs. Muslim, and Aryan vs. Dravidian
polemics. Urdu’s history is also enmeshed with man’s oldest (written) religious ideas/
terms, which were written down in Mesopotamia, e.g., names of gods, i.e., Indira,
Mitra, Siva, Allah, rab, etc., which are shared by Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Chris-
tians, and is enmeshed as well with Mesopotamia’s rich vocabulary and grammar —
shared among Arabic, Sanskrit, Dravidian, and Persian; these topics remain isolated
in the obscurity of advanced scholarship.
The book may be seen as a peace mission with a global perspective, free from
mythical dogma. The history of languages, culture, and religion from about 300 BC
onwards has divided man into Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and other groups; the
history between 300 BC and 3000 BC can reunite him to a common heritage of
culture, religious ideas, sciences, and a common linguistic melting pot with a single
shared script in Mesopotamia, centered at Iraq, and inclusive of its eastern end
(western India) and western (Egypt/Greece) range of influence. Besides this shared
heritage, the Indo-Pakistani people will find another scientific perspective in the
book, their advent from common genetic parents, termed “Adam # 5 and Eve G,”
mutant/migrants from Africa.
A synthetic and evolution-based work, the book involves many disciplines.
The author, a physician, had already learned six languages: Urdu, Hindi, English,
Persian, Arabic, and some SKT before engaging in this effort. Acquiring the requisite
knowledge in the other fields implies a rather intensive labor of love, and love of a
challenge. Postponing further self-analysis for now, I must highlight some core
research findings scattered in the seventeen chapters. The book follows a historic
timeline from chapters III to X, including Mesopotamia (chapter III) and India
(chapters IV to X), and focuses on the evolution of hybrid Urdu along with a brief
cultural review. The first two chapters offer an overview, language classification, and
a basic course on phonetic/alphabets and grammar types, i.e., isolating, agglutinating,
inflected, and syntax, which are essential in enabling the reader to understand the dia-
lectal differences inside and outside India — knowledge as basic to linguistic analysis
as anatomy is to a physician.
Chapter X vividly captures British professors (in 1800) in Calcutta deliberately
creating Hindu’s “Hindi,” Urdu’s earlier name, coined by a Muslim poet in the 13th
century. Chapter XII deals with modern Urdu, and Chapter XIII deals with modern
Hindi and its creation through the substitution of Arabic/Persian words by the thou-
sands with terms newly back-formed or created from SKT. Chapter XVI deals with
the common origin of scripts, including SKT, and Hindi is another focus, with Meso-
potamia as the source.
The last chapter, chapter XVII, includes a new classification based on
grammar, a basic feature of any language, which was ignored in the creation of the
IE/Aryan family. Highly inflected SKT and Latin were equated and placed with the
4
Foreword
agglutinating types, Celtic and Armenian; the latter two really should be classified
with Dravidian, Finnish, and Turkish, and Sanskrit grouped with Latin and Arabic.
Some important highlights of the book are:
GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
Urdu’s “isolating” feature inherited from oldest Austric and its syntax inherited
from Dravidian rule out the theory that it consists of alleged dialects of highly
inflected SKT. SKT provides only 7–10% of its vocabulary. The bulk of the vocab-
ulary, about 60% (chapters IV and V), are from Austric Munda and DR sources, yet it
has remained classified as SKT. Some words are really high profile — Pundit
(learned), Brahmin (priest), puja (worship), dharma (religion), mandir (temple),
manush (man), nagar (city), nir (water), pushp (flower), megh (cloud), madhu
(honey); these were loaned into SKT and Hindi from a verifiable DR source and
German scholars blindly believed them to be SKT. Similarly, many words from
Munda sources such as Jorna-Ghatana (add-substract), girna (fall), dubna (sink), jal
(water), jalna (burn), maha (great), lagana (connect), and others, were also considered
SKT. Of the three Urdu words for water (jal, nir, and pani) and four for bread (roti,
nan, chapatti, and phulka), none is SKT. Numerous other examples in the book reveal
Urdu/Hindi as being much older than and distinct from SKT — a fact which was
noted also by Sir William Jones (1786) but was not publicized.
Other major sources account for a good 20-25% of the Urdu vocabulary. Most
are Arabic-Persian words (chapter VI), which have gone into Indian holy books, i.e.,
Ramayan and Granth Sahab.
MESOPOTAMIAN LANGUAGES
Mesopotamian languages are the oldest sources of Arabic, arising from

Sumero-Babylonian (~3000 BC), Dravidian from Elamite (2500 BC), SKT, Hurrian-
Mitanni-Hittite (1500 BC), and Persian from Elamite/Hittite, all interactive and
having a shared vocabulary and literature. A significant vocabulary of some 100-plus
words included in the book in fact suggests that the creation of a separate family
would be justified. Some of the every-day words in Urdu/Hindi from this area are:
āb (water), rab (chief), gu (cow), banāna (make), calna (walk), parh (read), atal
(immovable), rath (chariot), labas (dress), mitra (friend), hisab (calculate), naru
(river), karmela (camel), su (good), and maha (great); many of these are in SKT, IE,
DR, and Urdu/Hindi. A few others include: mae (I/me), dena (give), and cut, kat, or
qit (cut). Both types of grammar, agglutinating and inflected, three types of numbers
(SKT, Arabic, and Latin), and the smallest number of phonemes (12–15 consonants
and 3–5 vowels), when recognized by European scholars in the 19th–20th centuries,
discredited all the linguistic myths — but the mythical classification still lives on.
5
HINDI/URDU LITERATURE
Early literature (mainly poetic) from the Pali (Urdu’s oldest name) phase inte-
grates with Sufi literature of the 9–16th centuries to become one language, called
Hindi at that time. After 1800–1900, it diverges into a Hindi and an Urdu stream. A
voluminous secular literature, both poetry and prose, exist in both. Many of their
themes reveal the echoes of Mesopotamia, e.g., Aesop’s animal fable of Badpai, and
the Epic of Gilgamesh (chapter III).
URDU/HINDI POLITICS
Urdu, as a successor of Persian, was adopted by the British (1835) as the

administrative language and a medium of education because of the national and
global status of Persian script. Chapters X and XI deal with the synthesis of a new
Hindi, by the purging of Arabic/Persian words and the demand and struggle of Hindu
nationalists to remove Urdu, declaring it (and everything Muslim) to be foreign. The
British, who created Hindi and instigated the development of Hindi nationalism,
never removed Urdu and the struggle continued until partition.
The role of secular leaders Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, also highlighted in chapter
XI, reveals that Gandhi (who had favored Urdu’s continuation even after partition),
was perceived as pro-Muslim. In India Urdu lost its status as the primary language (to
its twin, Hindi, in 1949), but it remained important. In Pakistan it has retained its
prime position.
GLOBALISM IN URDU/HINDI
Seen from a deeper perspective that recognizes the global substrates in its
genesis, Urdu/Hindi has grown to be a global language, true to its heritage. It may be
the world’s most widely-used language, if one includes its variants (Gujarati, Punjabi,
etc.). Chapter XV provides a unique focus on their status in the USA, the UK, and
worldwide with a diaspora of around 20–30 million people. Here Urdu is thriving
and Hindi is not, because of Hindi’s rivalry with other branches, like Gujarati, due to
differences in the script. The role of the Indo-Pakistani media and film industries has
been consistently positive and secular and they never switched to “new Hindi” for
commercial reasons; they have retained the quality of pre-divided India. A chapter
devoted to media/show biz focuses on its role in maintaining the cultural unity of
South Asia. Urdu has retained its hold on the main streets of India but under an
altered name, Hindi. Chapter XIII (on modern Hindi) reveals the reversion of a
“politically created” Hindi to its same old quality, neither Hindu nor Muslim, but non-
parochial, secular, Indian or South Asian.
As a New York physician, alien to the humanities, I might seem an unlikely

author for such a book. But each person develops in specific circumstances, and my
formative years were shaped by the Hindu/Muslim mutual slaughter that accom-
6
Foreword
panied the partition of India. I grew up during the 1940s-60s in the high-voltage
Hindu-Muslim politics of the pre-partition phase witnessing incessant riots, food/fuel
shortages, murders, stabbings, arson, curfews, sirens, and impending death/annihi-
lation. As a Muslim boy in a Vedic-Hindu school I spent five years (grades 3-7) in
this volatile atmosphere under the stigma of being a “traitor Muslim, divider of
mother India.” Thus stems the intensity of my passion in ferreting out the history and
tracing the roots of the divide. Vedic schooling was certainly priceless, as I memo-
rized Vedic hymns and noticed similarities in Islam and Hinduism, and enjoyed cele-
brating Hindu festivals and learning to be a “good Muslim” and a Vedic Indian.
My father, an educator, lawyer, history buff and poet, in fact had encouraged
my Vedic education over the much closer and safer Islamic College in Allahabad. He
also removed my partition guilt by producing evidence that Pakistan, an accepted
compromise, was never meant for all Muslims. A critical milestone of this phase was
the removal of Urdu, my mother tongue, from the syllabus and its replacement by
Hindi, imposing academic hardship and psychological stress. Hindi and Urdu script
were believed to be “Hindu” and “Muslim” everywhere. How could a script be
Muslim or Hindu? That had become a challenging question for me, though for the
time being I had enough questions to answer, through secondary school, college and
medical school. But very soon I became convinced of its political nature. I con-
ducted graduate studies at Chandigarh, Indian Punjab, which found itself split
between Hindus and Sikhs, along linguistic lines. For Sikhs, the Gurmukhi script of
the Punjabi language is holy, similar to the AR, SKT, and HEB script. A major
episode was the removal of SKT’s DNS (Dev-Nagari script), supposedly holy, from
South India and Bengal by the Hindus themselves. Politics drives holiness. A
message was sent again when Bangladesh split from Pakistan, belying the myth that
Urdu’s Arabic script guaranteed national unity.
My stay in Punjab taught me a seventh language, Punjabi, before I landed in
New York in 1969. During my entire career, ending in a professorship/chairmanship
in New York, I have asked language/script questions of thousands of professional
émigrés from the subcontinent. Among the educated a common belief is found —
that Urdu came from Hindi, which came from SKT and Urdu is “Muslim” because of
its Arabic features and script. Arabic is holy to Muslims, and Sanskrit is to Hindus,
and Hebrew is to Jews (that, I learnt in New York).
The book provides answers to the political perception of “holiness.” Sumerian,
as far as we can tell man’s first language, was a secular utility, and so are all lan-
guages. But the acquisition of holy literature creates holiness. Modern Hindi created
for Hindus now is turning holy for Indian Muslims, a point noted in chapter XIII. A
major concept, that languages are an earthly creation free from religion, becomes all
too clear. This is my reward — and therapy — for the “psychological trauma” pro-
duced by my childhood (as diagnosed by Dr. Faiza Pastula, my daughter).
As the work advanced, was read by friends and presented at two university
centers in India and South Africa, I perceived difficulties in its acceptance by reli-
gious and/or political nationalists, especially Indian, as it undermines all the three
prevalent dogmas — Sanskrit’s mythical Indo-centric creation, its Aryan origin from
Germany, and India as the oldest independent civilization. But these dogmas really
7
amount to a matter of faith and exist mainly due to lack of a full historical record.
Likewise, I foresee difficulties in acceptance among pro-Arabic faithfuls, who may
find solace in Quranic views regarding languages as mere utilities, transmitter of
ideas/messages (chapter I). However, for many scientific-oriented, English-educated,
modern Indo-Pakistani people, some 3% of the population (about 50 million), the
book may be a breath of fresh air, and may accelerate understanding among racial and
religious groups and countries of South Asia. And Urdu/Hindi may be seen differ-
ently, as neither Aryan nor Dravidian, nor Hindu nor Muslim, but as a purely Indian,
or South Asian, hybrid of five known linguistic groups, Munda, Dravidian, Sanskrit,
Persian, and Arabic.
The concern for potential emotional distress to the religious faithful has been
foremost as I prepare this work. I do regret any hurt that may be felt, but as a phy-
sician/scientist I am committed to my own faith of seeking out and sharing the truth,
which I believe I have reported here with verifiable accuracy. The reader must note
that subversion of the truth has been practiced everywhere and comes with a price;
numerous examples are cited in the book. As a matter of fact, this type of book could
have been easily authored by someone like the linguist S. K. Chatterji, well before
India was partitioned, and it could have easily changed the course of history by
healing both religious and racial division. But he had a clear pro-British agenda
(chapter XI), which was divisive. This book is focused on inclusiveness and healing,
through scientific history. The latter really requires rising above one’s personal bias.
This type of attitude is now part of the new English-educated middle-class in Pakistan
and India, modern in outlook, with a global and scientific perspective, and an aptitude
for self-criticism and reorientation. The book, a reflection of this positive attitude, is
primarily addressed to this group. The famous peace process now underway between
India and Pakistan may want a page from this linguistic history book, which espe-
cially recognizes “Hindustani,” the linguistic super family uniting all in the subcon-
tinent. That is the focus of the last chapter.
8
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A work of this magnitude and diversity indeed required broad support and
intellectual inspiration from many specialists in humanities. Dr. Irfan Habib, India’s
leading historian and former professor at AMU Aligarh, graciously shared some
research data on Semitic languages pointing out the usage of Arabic words as early as
Asoka’s time. Dr. Syed Jabir Raza and Dr. Khalil Beg of the history and linguistic
departments, respectively, of AMU, extended signifiacnt assistance. My seminar in
the Linguistic Department before the faculty and graduate students was a significant
confidence builder, as was another seminar at the Ranchi University faculty, orga-
nized by Dr. Jawed Ahmad, who, along with Dr. Jamil Akhtar, had very kindly con-
nected me with Munda speakers, and speakers of Dravidian, Malto and Kurux, two
basic factors in the creation of Hindi/Urdu. Dr. Karma Oraon and Parkash Oraon, the
tribal intellectuals, shared their exciting tribal festival and also provided some
material in Munda linguistics.
Another prominent academic, a professor of Urdu at Allahabad University
(India), Dr. Atia Nishat, provided useful insight on Urdu’s status in India, besides the
moral support of a member of my extended family. Naheed Zia of Karachi (Pakistan)
collected valuable books and so did my sister Mrs. Siddiqa Burney of Lucknow, an
educator and an Urdu major, whose tragic early death has deprived me of a potential
translator/collaborator. Prof. Akhtar-ul-Waseh of Delhi, a multi-linguist, in addition
to verbal support provided numerous books including his rare ones; rare books were
also accessed through Dr. Qazi Inamul Hai, a scientist and former faculty member at
Columbia University in New York.
Technical support for this “computer illiterate” author, came from several
people: Hina Siddiqui, Hafsa Mohsin, Karthi Subramaniam, Subul Niazi, Dr. Leonard
Pastula and his wife, Faiza Khan Pastula, M.D., among others. Mrs. Yasmin Alvi, an
educator and major in English literature, a teacher at Jericho Public School, really
adopted the book as a personal business and challenge, typing, editing, coordinating,
and bearing the stress all the way. Ms. Rubina Niaz of New York, who translated a
few Urdu verses, also assisted in typing work. Sarah Fazli, of Johns Hopkins,
9
deserves a special thanks; she not only helped with the final editorial polish and proof
reading but also in formatting and footnote insertions. Critical reviews by Doctors
Pratibha Khare, Ph.D., Dr. Fasih Siddiqui, Ph.D., Dr. Smitha Kumar, M.D., and
Bahubal Kumar, M.D. revealed an anxiety for potential difficulties in its acceptance
by the religious orthodox. As Dr. Khare observed, this book intends to change history
as it has been taught, on the basis of linguistic evidence. Faiz Khan, M.D., my son,
provided valuable insight into the pure “mercantile indulgence” of European powers,
fitting right into their Indian political ventures and Aryan/Semitic linguistics, clothed
in “academic” drapery but mercantile all the same. A critical review by Prof. B.N.S
Walia, MD., my professional mentor and former director of PGI Chandigarh, India,
helped soften the language on sensitive, religious/political issues.
Moral support, inspiration, and tolerance of my monologues have been pretty
much expected of most friends and members of my extended family, such as Mr. Riaz
Alvi, Mrs. Ayesha Alvi, Alvira Gilani, Drs. Balbir Singh, Surendra Varma, Santosh
Khare, and Farooque Khan, Mr. Sarfaraz Khan, Mr. Nasir Farooqui, Mr. Muzaffar
Habib, Mr. Husain Imam, Dr. Jamil Akhtar, Dr. Razi Siddiqui, Dr. Irfan Amin and Dr.
Ramesh Jhaveri, Dr. Nazia Faiz Qadir and Rabia Siddiqui, all from the U.S.A., Mrs.
Shama Hasan of the BBC, London, and Husain Amin, a Lucknow journalist, Prof.
Farid Ghani of Malaysia, formerly of AMU, Dr. Abdul Jalil Khan of Allahabad, and
Mr. Farrukh Ghani, a professor at AMU, and his son Haris Ghani, have helped with
significant research materials and library resources. My understanding of speech and
linguistic evolution and its ontological aspect was greatly expanded and reinforced by
close observations on Zain, Noah and Layla (my grandkids); these ideas on infants’
acquisition of phonemes are reflected in chapter II.
Dr. Shaista Rahman, a former professor of English at City University of New
York, was one of the most inspiring enthusiasts. Her premature demise has sadly
deprived me of a pat on the back. Her husband, formerly a professor of English at
City University, Mr. Asad-ur-Rahman, has provided a useful critique. Ahmad Mutee
Siddiqui, M.D., a member of my extended family and a lifelong friend with a deep
insight into Urdu’s history and literature, has been consistent in inspiring and
reviewing the chapters. His contribution was no less than that of Farida Khan, M.D.,
my better half, who has absorbed most of the book by daily briefing with morning
teas and dinners. She has been the real power, driving the pace of this venture. Mr.
Abdul Majid Khan, the prominent journalist from Karachi and archivist of books and
other material especially on the Indian mutiny, deserves special thanks. As the eldest
first cousin he consistently encouraged me and also critically reviewed the manu-
script.
Finally, I must express my appreciation for Algora Publishing, who really
encouraged this first-time author. Their support in this multi-specialty venture was
invaluable, and their staff, interacting with Yasmin Alvi and Sarah Fazli, did help us
carry through this commitment.
Abdul Jamil Khan, M.D.
Hunt Club
Jericho, New York.
10
List of Tables and Illustrations
LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Table I.1 Theaters of Urdu/Hindi and Others 15

Table II.1 Speech Phonemes 39
Figure II.1 Urdu’s Ancestral Links and Super families 46
Table II.2 Common Urdu/Hindi Verbs and Their Source 51
Figure II.2 Metaphorical Schematic DNA/Urdu: Substrate 54
Table III.1 Some Sumerian Words in Urdu/Hindi and Other Languages 63
Table III.2 Proto Elamo-Dravidian, Proto Dravidian and
Dravidian Words 67
Table III.3 Hittite Words in Urdu and Other Languages 71
Table III.4 Some Ancient Semitic Words Found in Urdu/Hindi
and Others 72
Table III.5 Words of Vedic and Avestan and Urdu/Hindi 76
Table III.6 Mesopotamia Phonemes and Modern Urdu/Hindi Phonemes 77
Table IV.1 Austric Munda - Verbs in Urdu/Hindi 93
Table IV.2A Urdu Verbs from Dravidian 103
Table IV.2B Urdu Verbs from Dravidian 104
Table V.1 Urdu Verbs from Sanskrit 121
Table VI.1 Arabic-Phonetic Package 136
Table VI.2 Arabic Verbs in Urdu/Hindi 139
Table VI.3 Persian Verbs in Urdu/Hindi 142
Table IX.1 Books Published at Fort Williams 203
Table X.1 Examination Results 1864-1885 241
Table X.2 19th Century Job Distribution in NWP or UP 242
Figure XI.1 A Specimen of Gandhi’s Handwriting 264
Figure XVI.1 Cuneiform Scripts 349
Figure XVI.2 Resemblance between Oldest Letters of Aramaic, Brahmi, Greek
and their Meaning 352
Figure XVI.3 Urdu’s Arabic Letters 354
Figure XVI.4 Dev-Nagari Letters of Urdu/Hindi 355
Figure XVI.5 Indus Valley Writing/Seals 359
Table XVII.1A Vocabulary of Middle East Farmers 371
Table XVII.1B Vocabulary of Middle East Farmers 372
Table XVII.2 Shared Numerals in IE, Semitic, Dravidian and Sumerian 373
Table XVII.3 Vocabulary in ME-Indo-Asiatic 380
11
In Memoriam
This book is dedicated to the memory of someone who would have been “the
happiest man” upon the publication of this work. Abdul Majeed Khan (1905-1967),
the author’s father, a multilingual educator, poet, and humanist, belonged to the
Peshawar area in Pakistan and migrated with the family to Allahabad (India), where
he died. Two of his most critical decisions were essential in giving this author a
chance: a preference for an Anglo-Vedic (Hindu) schooling over an Anglo-Islamic,
and the choice, at India’s partition, not to migrate back to ancestral Pakistan, thus
exposing the author to a multilingual and multi-religious culture. May his soul rest in
peace.
12
CHAPTER I. MESOPOTAMIAN ROOTS AND LANGUAGE CLAS-
SIFICATION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Urdu, Hindi, and Hindustani are three names for one speech/language, the
lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent or undivided British India (prior to 1947).
Written in Arabic-Persian script (APS), it is popularly known as Urdu, and in Dev-
Nagari script (DNS) as Hindi. Greco-Roman script (GRS), too, has been in use since
the 19th century. Under the names Urdu and/or Hindustani (in APS), this was the
official language of British India since 1835 and is currently the official language of
Pakistan. In India it is still commonly utilized as the second language in many states.
Under its second name, Hindi, in DNS, it assumed modest significance after 1900,
mainly among Hindus, and replaced its twin by taking on the official status in divided
India after 1947. In grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and history, Urdu/Hindi is one lan-
guage. Besides the difference in the script, another minor difference resides in the
variable (10-30%) Persian-Arabic content in their written forms, being higher in Urdu
than in Hindi. In speech the two are the same. At the global level, Urdu/Hindi is
among the most widely-used languages, a close second after (Mandarin) Chinese. In
the subcontinent, about 700 million people claim it as their mother tongue and/or
second language.
To comprehend the history and linguistic base of Urdu/Hindi, one has to look at
the Indian subcontinent or South Asia as a geopolitical and linguistic entity, like
Europe, with language-based regional sub-nations and a shared vision of history and
culture. Linguistically, as many as four families are identifiable — the largest Indo-
Aryan (IA) branch of the worldwide Indo-European (IE) family, Tibeto-Burmese
(TBR) of China, Dravidian (DR), and the large Austro-Asiatic (AA) family of Pacific
South East Asia. TBR occupies the extreme northeast bordering China-Burma and
the Indian state of Assam, and Bangladesh. The DR family with its four popular lan-
guages, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, dominates the south. The IA family
dominates the rest in about three-fourths of undivided India. The oldest family, AA,
13
perhaps 20,000 years old, through its dialects, Munda, Santali, Kol, etc., overlaps all
others but is concentrated in the central eastern highlands in the state of Chhattisgarh
and Jharkhand and Bihar1; its role is more basic in Urdu and other languages, such as
Sindhi, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Gujrati, Marathi, Bengali, Assami, Oriya, and Nepali,
which are currently grouped as IA dialects of IE Sanskrit (SKT). Urdu/Hindi, the
largest among these, is well comprehended in all IA dialectional tracts; all share a
common genesis, grammar, syntax, and about 90% of their vocabulary. These dialects
appropriately can be called para-Urdu or para-Hindi despite their own regional scripts
and political culture. In addition, Urdu/Hindi is not infrequently spoken in these areas
as a second language, and its films are equally popular. Urdu/Hindi may be, in fact,
the world’s most widely used language, if one includes para-Urdu or regional dia-
lects.
As a hybrid, Urdu is like English. However, while English draws from Pictic,
Celtic, Gothic, Latin, French, and Greek, all from the IE family, Urdu draws from
several families. In its cumulative evolution over some 10,000 years or more, Urdu/
Hindi has absorbed elements from AA, DR, IA (Sanskrit), IE (Persian), Semitic
Arabic, as well as from Turkish and English. Its phonetics and vocabulary are,
perhaps, the richest, for these obvious reasons.
1.1 SCIENTIFIC HISTORY: SUMMARIZED
The scientific history of Urdu covers the entire history of linguistic science,
which was initially clouded by various myths but is now identified with the evolution
of three major linguistic families, DR, IE, and Semitic (from the Middle East or
greater Mesopotamia, including Greece, northwest India, and Syria/Turkey and cen-
tered in Iraq, the West Asian heartland). As summarized in Table 1, the four theaters
of evolution of Urdu’s ingredients include the Sumero Babylonian theater in Iraq,
which created the oldest “Semitic” language, Akkadian, around 3000 BC, which then
evolved into Arabic and Hebrew. A second theater was Iran-Afghanistan, which gen-
erated Elamite (~3000 BC), Dravidian’s cousin later absorbed into Old Persian. In the
theater of Syria/Turkey, Hurrian-Mitanni and Hittite (~1500 BC) came into being and
later evolved into various IE branches, Greek, Sanskrit, and elements of Old Persian.
Urdu’s home theater, India, or the Indus Valley, is considered to be Dravidian, a
cousin of the Elamite of Iran. Socially and culturally, most of greater Mesopotamia
for almost 4000 years was interactive, using common scripts, cuneiform, and later
Phoenician-Aramaic script (PAS), which, in the historical period, gave birth to the
APS, DNS, and GRS. Urdu’s home theater, India, had been (Table 1) layered with
AA speakers migrating from West Asia and followed by others also from the west.
These layered accumulations from West Asia show up in Urdu/Hindi’s grammar,
syntax, vocabulary, culture and religious ideas, as we will see later. This brief
statement is fully supported by archaeological discoveries made in the past 125 years
1. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 37–39.
14
Chapter I. Mesopotamian Roots and Language Classification
or so. But when language classification came into being in the early 19th century,
these discoveries had not yet been made, and the science of linguistics was driven by
religious and/or racial concepts and their political exploitations. These efforts were
led exclusively by Europeans, especially the French, the Germans, and the British,
who had seen the world through religious confrontation: Christianity versus Islam,
Jews versus Christians, Semitic versus Aryan, and Hindu versus Muslim, and so on,
and who had nothing to gain by leaving a sleeping giant intact and ready to feel its
strength.
This author’s perspective, “Language, just a utility,” secular and independent of
religions, is a point of focus in this book’s exploration of the genetics of Urdu/Hindi.
But the prevalent or textbook version of the linguistic history of Urdu, Hindi, San-
skrit, and all others, is still rooted in ethnocentrism and myths, e.g., Aryan and
Semitic etc. A standard textbook narrative is relevant to provide a context for further
understanding.
Table I.1
Theaters of Urdu/Hindi and Others
West Asia, Iraq, Central Asia, India

Time Line Iran/Afghanistan
Syria Turkey/Syria Indus Valley
10-8000 BCE Pre-Sumerian Pro-Elam-Dr Hattusi Austric-Munda
Elamite Proto-Dravidian
6-2000 BCE Sumerian Elamite, Hattusi, Caucasian Munda, Proto-Dravidian
Akkadian Sumero/Akk Hybrid Pkt (unknown)
2-1000 BCE Sumer/Akk Elamite Hittite, Akk, Hurrian Munda, DR
Babylonian Sumero/Akk Uratrian Aramaic, Vedic
Pkt (unknown)
1000 BCE- Aramaic Aramaic, Elamite Pharygian Greek SKT, Munda, DR,
300 CE Assyrian Old Persian Aramaic, Armenian Pkt (Pali)
Aramaic
100-1000 CE Aramaic, Persian, Aramaic Greek, Turkish SKT, Munda, DR,
Arabic, Greek Arabic Aramaic, Armenian Pkts (Pali)
Persian, Arabic
1000-1500 CE Arabic Persian, Arabic Greek, Turkish SKT, Munda, DR, PER,
15
Arabic Hindi/Urdu
1600-1900 CE Arabic Persian, Arabic Turkish, Greek SKT, Munda, DR, PER
Arabic Arab, Urdu/Hindi,
Gujrati, Bengali
18-2000 CE Arabic Persian, Arabic Turkish, Greek Urdu/Hindi, DR,
Arabic English Munda, PER, English
1.2 TEXTBOOK HISTORY
The history of Urdu/Hindi starts with the arrival of Aryans in India (1000-1500
BC), and SKT is presumed to begin the process. By Buddha’s time (400-500 BC) one
finds a highly-developed language, SKT, among the elite and/or “Brahmins,” and
another of presumed inferior quality, Prakrit (PKT), used by common folks and
having regional variations. The Centro-Eastern variety of PKT, called Pali, became
Buddha’s language and was adopted by King Asoka as his official language and was
used in his inscriptions (280 BC), making Pali — not SKT — the oldest written lan-
guage of India. With the decreased status of Buddhism, SKT, appearing in written
form first in AD 150, superseded PKT Pali. Pali and other PKTs remained the lan-
guage of common folks, while SKT became our first known example of the common
linguistic double standard: one language for elites only, the other for both commoners
and elites. SKT generated an enormous amount of secular and technical literature,
not to mention the Hindu religious treatises, and maintained its higher-castes orien-
tation.
After the 7th century two new West Asian languages, Arabic and Persian,
written in APS, were brought in and assumed to be Islamic since the invaders/immi-
grants had adopted Islam in the previous century. Indian elites (both Hindus and
Muslims) under Muslim rule maintained the double standard. Persian replaced San-
skrit, while PKT acquired the new APS script. The PKT spoken around the Delhi area
was named “Hindi” in the 13th century by a Muslim poet, Amir Khusro, and the name
Urdu was slowly adopted, around 1800, during the late Moghul period. Urdu in APS
remained the people’s language, generating a rich and popular literature for fun and
entertainment. The British, who controlled the country after 1767, maintained the
double standard, using Persian but later adopting Urdu also for official use (1835).
Urdu stayed on course and grew, slowly replacing Persian after 1858, but it faced a
new challenge from the English language.
Under the British, the Indian elites slowly adopted the English language in the
19th and 20th centuries for higher education and administration, while Urdu retained
its parallel official position. But in the 1800s the British also revived DNS for writing
Urdu and named it “Hindi,” declaring it to be the language of the Hindus and driving
16
a wedge between the two communities. Urdu was stigmatized as the language of “for-
eigners,” the Semitic Muslims, by the British and collaborating Hindus. Hindi and
Urdu, the twins, then drove the “divide-and-rule” policy of the British, who helped
develop Hindi slowly and recognized it (1900) nominally as a second language.
When the British left in 1947, a largely Hindu India adopted Hindi as its official lan-
guage, replacing Urdu, which has maintained its position in Pakistan.
1.3 EVOLUTION OF CLASSIFICATION
The evolution of classification is really embedded in the prevalent religious

dogmas of the 18th century, such as SKT being the progenitor of all the world’s lan-
guages, Semitic (APS), a right-to-left writing system, being Islamic, and DNS, left-
to-right, as Hindu or Indian. Additionally, the dogma of the creation of the alphabet
(GRS) by the Greeks was part of the mythical baggage. The myth that Hinduism was
the oldest religion was embraced by Europe and in 1700–1800 India was declared to
have been the ancient homeland of white Europeans, who presumably had migrated
out to Europe.
The term “Aryan,” picked out of context from the Rig Ved, Hindu’s oldest
revealed book, was propagated as being synonymous with Hinduism, and SKT and
Indian Vedic culture were presumed to be a common background to all IE-speaking
(Indo-European) races. Thus, the idea of the Aryan race/language-script and its rival
Semitic race/language-script was purely a European theory, a misinterpretation of the
Hindu myth. The Modern language classification emanating from this socio-political
race theory has been completely discredited by the deciphering of Mesopotamian
inscriptions and by the discoveries of molecular biology and the study of man’s evo-
lution and his migration from Africa.
The whole enterprise of modern philology started in India, where the ancient
linguist Panini (400-500 BC) had already pioneered the study of phonemes (conso-
nants and vowels) and SKT grammar.
It was 1786 when Sir William Jones, Chief Justice of Calcutta, High Court of
Bengal, in the service of the East India Company (EIC), learned Sanskrit. Already
skilled in ten languages, including Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian, and keenly interested
in comparative language studies, Sir William noted the beauty, grammar, and richness
of Sanskrit and recognized its close affinity to Greek, Latin, German, and other lan-
guages. He hinted in a statement to the Royal Asiatic Society of Calcutta2 that he
accepted the antiquity of Sanskrit:
The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure;
more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely
refined 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 indeed, that no philologer could possibly examine all the three without
believing them to have sprung from some common source which, perhaps, no longer
2. F. Bodmer (1985), pp. 171–175
17
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. I can only declare my belief that the language of Noah is
irretrievably lost. After diligent search, I cannot find a single word used in common
by the Arabian, Indian, and Tartar families, before the admixture of these dialects
occasioned by the Mohammedan conquests.
Though several Europeans had earlier noted there was some linkage between
SKT and various IE languages, Sir William deserves credit for formalizing the disci-
pline of linguistics. He estimated, via linguistic analysis, that SKT evolved around
1500 BC. In his presentation, he downplayed Noah’s Semitic language which
(according to Jewish myth) was presumed to be man’s first language and progenitor
of all others (The Hindus, however, regarded SKT as the first). Sir William, unaware
of pre-Islamic mixing of peoples in Mesopotamia, attributed Arabic words mixed into
Persian to the Islamic invasion.
Work in linguistics expanded feverishly after his time, especially on IE lan-
guages, and classification followed. The IE language family turned out to be the
largest, followed by TB, AA, and others. Subsequent work including linguistic
surveys of India led to the placement of Urdu-Hindi under IE SKT, as follows.
1.3.1 Language Families and Types
I. Indo-European Family
a. Teutonic (Germanic or Gothic)
German, Dutch, Icelandic, Danish, English, etc.
b. Celtic:
Erse, Gaelic (Scottish), Welsh, Breton
c. Romance (Latin)
French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc.
d. Slavonic
Russian, Polish, Serbian, etc.
e. Baltic
Lithuanian, Latvian (Lettish)
f. Greek
g. Albanian
h. Armenian
i. Persian
Dari, Baluchi, Farsi, etc.
j. Indic (SKT)
Urdu/Hindi, Bengali, Gujrati, Sindhi, Marathi, etc.
II. Finno-Ugric
Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Mongolian
III. Semitic
Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopian, Maltese
IV. Hamitic
Somali, Berber
V. Tibeto-Chinese
18
Chinese (Mandarin), Tibetan, Siamese, Burmese, etc.

VI. Austro-Asiatic
Austric dialects of India, Munda, Santali, etc., Malaysian, Indonesian,
Polynesian, Australian
VII. Turko-Tartar-Altaic
Turkish, Tatar, etc.
VIII. Dravidians
Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Brahui, Gond, Malto, Kurux, etc.
IX. Bantu
Kafur, Zulu, Congo, etc.
X. Caucasian
Georgian, Chechen, Ossetic, etc.
XI. Ameri-Indian
1.4 POLITICS OF LINGUISTIC SPLITS
Besides the racial and religious myths, political expediency perhaps also
played its role in the above classification. SKT and Hindi, completely dissimilar lan-
guages in grammar and syntax, were grouped in IE/IA, perhaps in deference to the
mythical dogma of SKT and DNS. The Aryan homeland theory was shifted by
German linguists from India to Germany. But in all fairness the 18th–19th centuries
were still the “dark ages,” from a linguistics perspective. Cuneiform decipherment
and West Asian archaeology were unknown, the Asokan script was not yet deci-
phered, and religious books still served to explain much of the unknown history.
It is obvious that three political compulsions dominated the European efforts in
India: 1) the continuation of the crusade mentality that drove Europeans to undermine
or control the two large Muslim empires — Ottoman Turkey and Mughul India; 2)
the spread of Christianity among the Hindu majority, then considered heathens, and
their recruitment into a European anti-Muslim alliance; and 3) competition between
France (Catholic) and Britain (Anglo-Saxon Protestant), and between Germany and
Britain.
The idea of a wholesale conversion of Hindus failed, largely because of the
inherent strength of the Hindu-Buddhist religion and philosophy. But in politics,
Europeans did succeed in India. Mughul India by the 18 th –19 th century had
developed an “Indian” political-culture personality or psyche that was neither Hindu
nor Muslim. Religion existed in a parallel but private realm. The State was secular but
supportive of all religions. Muslims, a minority (almost all converts in previous cen-
turies from Hinduism) were among the ruling elites that consisted of a team of upper-
caste Hindus and upper-class Muslims. APS was not only the medium of education
and politics but it had become the medium even for many Hindu religious books, e.g.,
Maha Bharata and Ramayan. DNS, however, was still used, mainly for religious
work. Urdu/Hindi and others, including Bengali, utilized APS and also, not uncom-
monly, the regional variants of DNS.
19
The above backdrop is crucial to understanding the rise of linguistic racism, the
powerful theories of Aryanism, and the rise of Hindu nationalism. The theory posited
a racial linguistic “brotherhood” among European Aryans and Hindu Aryans and
their ancient Aryan homeland in Europe (Germany), migration of Aryans every-
where, including India, and the “purity and supremacy” of the white race, which had
a powerful resonance among Hindus, particularly those of Bengal.3 Creation of an
Aryan-Hindu Bengali language first and then the Hindi language were integral parts
of the “Hindu Renaissance” of Golden Bengal. The British, as Aryan cousins, were
accepted as liberators by the Hindus from the 1000-year tyranny of Muslims, termed
as slavery, and the stage was set for the proponents of the separated twin languages to
partition the land.
1.5 A MYTHICAL DILEMMA IN MODERN LINGUISTICS
The Old Testament myth of Adam and Eve is fundamental to Muslims, Chris-
tians, and Jews. Adam and Eve, miraculously delivered in the West Asian theater, had
a common language, presumably Hebrew.4 When men and their progeny built the
tower of Babel to reach Heaven, god confounded the language, making it impossible
for men to understand each other and He scattered them upon the face of the earth
(Genesis 11: 6-9). Additionally, the names of various beasts, fowls, cattle, and all
living creatures were also given to Adam (Genesis 2: 19, 20). Hebrew thus generated
the “Babelled” speech or deteriorated speech of other divided sects/tribes. Noah’s
grandsons, through Shem, Ashur, Aram, Heber, and Elam (Genesis 10: 21-31), are
linked to linguistic tribes, i.e., Assyrian, Aramaic, Hebrew, all Semitic (a word newly
coined by German scholars in the 18th century), except Elam, whose language/tribe is
identified with the Elamite language, a fossil language of Iran and close cousin of the
Dravidian family. Many faithful still maintain the Hebrew myth. The Hebrew lan-
guage, like Arabic, is in fact a newer version of the Sumero-Babylonian language and
is mixed with Greek and Persian vocabulary.
Faithful to the Old Testament, Christian priest-scholars had to accept the
“Hebrew” myth; but Jesus spoke Aramaic, the official secular language of the whole
civilized world from Pakistan (then a Persian province) to Greece for about 1000
years up to Alexander’s time and even thereafter (Table 1). The New Testament, too,
stresses the importance of language (John 1): “In the beginning was the word and the
word was with god and the word was God.”
Sir William and other Europeans in India had a problem reconciling their own
Judeo-Christian dogma with surging Indo-European ethnic Aryanism among Hindus
and the need to build a political alliance with them the majority. They had to go
beyond the existing theories to come up with something to support the new goals. Sir
William proposed a biblical genealogy5 for Hindu’s prophet or Autar, “Ram,” as
3. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 32–33.

4. L. J. Ludovici (1968), pp. 58–63.
5. S. N. Mukerji (1968), pp. 95–96.
20
progeny of Cush, grandson of Noah through Ham (Genesis 10: 6-14). The French
viewed Hindu Aryans a bit differently. In their view Noah’s son Japheth (the pre-
sumed progenitor of the white Aryan race) had seven sons in Europe who created lin-
guistic tribes — Latin, Greek, Gothic, etc., and Sanskrit — and migrated to India. The
mythical connection with Noah and Hebrew, however, did not go too far, but the
dogma of Aryanism and/or a grand Indo-European race and language has endured.
SKT was the keystone, and its status in Hinduism must be understood.
1.6 THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF SANSKRIT
Sanskrit is an essential element in Hindu’s creation myth, which is cyclical and

Indo-centric. Aryan or “noble” Dharma, or religion, presumed as indigenous, eternal
(Sanatana), and a dynamic process, was set in motion by god, or “Brahma,” who had
created Man in four basic castes or Varna (color): Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (ruling
and warrior caste), Vaishya (worker or business class), and Shudra, or Untouchables
(the lowest caste, meant for menial labor).
The caste system is work-specific and fundamental. The soul is the real entity
of self and it transmigrates at death, leaving the temporary abode or body for a new
one, not necessarily in the same life form. The next life might be lived at a higher or
lower level, as reward or punishment. The highest merit or Karma (based on virtuous
deeds) offers union with almighty “Nirvana,” or rebirth into a higher caste — an
upgrade. Bad deeds or sins may bring punishment in the form of subsequent life
phases as a lower-caste human, or other (inferior) life forms. This is the concept
known as Metempsychosis. The world itself consists of four cycles or yugs, the first
being the pure, pristine Satya Yug, or truthful phase, and has already gone through
several million years of intermediate cycles up to the present fourth, or last, age
called Kali Yug, the black phase, defined as decadent, corrupt, less religious and full
of strife, and manipulated by inferior castes, and/or Malecchas, “the foreigners.”
Human life and the world are both cyclical, and Kali Yug, now on track for some five
thousand years, will end the world cycle. God, or Brahma, will then start a fresh
cycle.
Other details regarding the Autar/prophets, the holy books including four
Vedas, the Upanishad (philosophical book of wisdom), the Puranas with their
ancient king lists and two major epics and their commentaries envelope the above
basic fundamental. Many other ideas arising from these include Monism or Vedanta,
Buddhism, etc., which will be discussed later in context with old Urdu/Hindi. In this
grand scheme Sanskrit, a pure language and part of creation in Satya Yug, delivered
on golden leaves by Brahma,6 had to deteriorate like everything else, with time, and
spun off inferior quality languages and dialects (PKTs) in Kali Yug.
People of other lands and faiths are presumed descendants of Hindu ancestors
who had left the caste system, e.g., Europeans are fallen Kshatriya, and Muslims are
Malechcha, a term equivalent to “barbarian” in Greek. Sanskrit language was meant
6. William Durant (1935), p. 408.
21
for Brahmin’s usage only; it had created a massive body of secular, scientific material
during the 3rd–7th centuries AD. SKT scholars along with Greek scholars are known
to have transferred the sciences into Arabic (7th–9th centuries).
Obviously, new discoveries in linguistic sciences regarding Mesopotamia
undermine the religious faith in SKT. Many Hindu scholars such as S. K. Chatterji
and others, accept the scholarly view with caution, perhaps to avoid offending the
faithful. The genetic history of Indian languages, including Urdu/Hindi, thus remains
under SKT’s cloud. This is true even in non-Aryan Dravidian tracts.
1.7 INDOPHILISM AND INDO-EUROPEANISM
In Europe even prior to Sir William’s pronouncement, the philosophy of

Vedanta, or Monism, had impressed the French and the Germans through translation
from the Persian Upanishad written by the Moghul prince Dara Shikoh. Sir William,
Max Muller, and John Muir, among others, translated SKT texts en masse, which
changed the European view about India, for better or for worse. This encouraged and
confirmed Hindu self-confidence in the primacy of SKT and also inspired Hindu
nationalism and Urdu/Hindi polarization in the 19th century, which will be discussed
in chapters 9–11.
Linguistic pride and chauvinism in general are well documented in all races.
The Greeks are famous for regarding others as barbarians, or speakers of uncouth
speech. Barbar (from the Arabic word barbariat, meaning “savagery”) had origi-
nated in Sumerian;7 in Urdu, barbarana means “uncouth speech.” In spite of Greek
pride, Plato and Socrates had recognized the need for a comparative study of lan-
guages, and Socrates even accepted the “barbarian’s language” as being older than
Greek.8
Linguistic pride in SKT is different. It is exclusionary of others, as elaborated
by grammarians Panini (400–500 BC), Katayana (300 BC), and Patanjali (100 BC),
and more recently by Prof. Deshpande of the University of Michigan.9 Manus’ law
(the legal code of Hindus) even prohibits the lower caste from reading SKT, but prag-
matic Hindus have generally ignored these strictures, spreading SKT among even
Muslims, many of whom have become SKT scholars themselves.
Among the Europeans, the rationalist/liberal Voltaire (1767)10 was among the
earliest to make a clear pro-Hindu/Indian comment when he described India as “the
cradle of world civilization and the home of religion in its purest form,” assuring the
King of Prussia that even Christianity was solely based on the ancient religion of
Brahma. This concept of Christianity being tied to India remained active even in the
20th century among some theosophists.
7. W. Halbfas (1988), p. 176.

8. L. J Ludovici (1968), p. 27.
9. M. M. Deshpande (1993), pp. 17–32.
10. W. Halbfas (1988), pp. 57–61.
22
Polycarp Lyserus, as early as 1716, had argued that the Indians, not the Jews,
were the originators of culture. Kant as well noticed the purity of the Hindu religion
and its lack of superstitions. William Jones, Kant, and Schopenhauer, impressed by
the Vedanta or Monism of Shankara, publicized a positive image of philosophic
India. Popular terms such as “eternal orient,” “our eternal home,” “lost paradise of all
religions,” and “source of Greek and Egyptian thought,” dominated enlightened
Europe in the 18th –19th centuries.11
Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), besides focusing on Hindu thought, recog-
nized SKT as the mother of all languages, as quoted by Halbfas: “Here is the actual
source of all languages, all the thoughts and poems of human spirit, everything.
Everything, without exception, comes from India.” In addition, he recognized that
Persian, German, Greek, and Roman languages and culture were traceable to India.
Schlegel formalized linguistic classification, comparing it with even comparative
biology in 1808 and linking it to race. This created a wave of excitement and
heightened respect for SKT and led to the burgeoning of SKT departments in univer-
sities in Europe, Calcutta, and Varanasi. He attached the highest value to “the
inflection” of SKT and German as being indicative of a spiritual origin: “A language
devoid of inflection [was] subhuman and animal in type.”12 Unaware that his highly
valued inflection already existed 600 years earlier in perfect form in Arabic, Schlegel,
in a show of anti-Arab contempt and racism, defined Semitic languages as “the
highest form of animal language but possessing lofty power and energy.”
Danish comparative linguist Rasmus Rask (1787–1832) took pride in his pure
mother tongue (German) with its full flexional system.13 He mocked English as a
“mongrel” and “a shameless borrower from other sources,” an obvious expression of
jealousy over an insurgent, global English language. The Germans went further and
created a hypothetical ancient Proto-Aryan language called proto-Indo-European
(PIE), compiled a dictionary, and wrote a German saga in it, painting the imaginary
cultural life of an ancient and noble Aryan race.14 This fictional enterprise did indeed
become very embarrassing after the discoveries in Mesopotamia revealed that Hittite
was a more likely candidate to be credited as the oldest-documented IE-type lan-
guage.
1.8 RACISM COAT-TAILED ON SANSKRIT
The discoveries of the oldest languages, Sumerian and Semitic, on cuneiform

tablets, and the oldest IE language, Hittite, also in cuneiform, deflated Indo-Eurocen-
trism and the status of SKT, since almost all Indian writing in SKT was of recent
origin (3–7th c. AD), but had been attributed to a mythical, hypothetical antiquity.
Mesopotamia also revealed earlier use of the mathematical concept of “zero,”
11. W. Halbfas (1988), pp. 66–75.

12. Martin Bernal (1987), pp. 203–231.
13. L. J. Ludovici (1968), pp. 94–97.
14. F. Bodmer (1985), pp. 175–190.
23
algebra, etc. Indians of the Indus Valley civilization (2500–1700 BC), younger than
Mesopotamia but contemporary with Sumeria, are mentioned in Sumerian tablets as
trading “Meluha.” Indians left no cuneiform records except the famous “seals,” which
remain undeciphered, but the civilization is considered as pre-Aryan Dravidian, a
contemporary of their neighbor the Dravidian-Elamites of Iran (Vide, chapter IV).
The fact of this “cradle shift” to West Asia and a hidden antipathy toward the
Hindus (who were never really accepted as white) and Eurocentrism led to the
transfer of the hypothetical Aryan homeland to Germany; India was relegated as the
adopted home and SKT was called a daughter of PIE.
In a review Halbfas cites, J. A. de Gobineau15 (1816-1882), a French philos-
opher and the father/author of “Aryan (and/or) white supremacy” who believed that
“the Aryans, representing the highest potential of the white race, invaded the Indian
subcontinent and began to merge with the native population. He complimented the
astute Brahmins for inventing the caste system as a means of self-preservation and
the maintenance of superior Aryan values and identity, as compared to other Aryan
groups, who were in an advanced stage of decay.” The climax of Aryanism, an
apparent reaction to the newly discovered West Asian cultural primacy, helped lead to
the evolution of national socialism, or Nazism, around 1900 in Europe and Hindu
extremism in India.
A German named G. Lanz-Liebenfeb (1874–1954) led the “ariosophic”
movement, espousing ideas of dark people or chandalas (an Indian term for vile,
inferior, or of lower caste), and white blond Aryans. He, too, praised the caste system
in the Hindus’ law book, Manu, as mentioned in the review by Halbfas. His ideas and
use of the swastika symbol, and Rosenberg’s book, The Myth of the 20th Century,
inspired Hitler. Aryanism’s main targets obviously were the Jews and Gypsies in
Europe, but its Indian stream, ever since the 19th century, has been expressed as
Hindu extremism against Muslims, who are presumed to be foreigners. Even now it
drives much of the politics of the subcontinent. In India, Aryanism currently has two
streams, with SKT being fundamental to both: One believes in an Aryan race and
SKT that are “foreign,” “immigrant”; and the other sees them as being indigenous
Indian.
Compulsions driving racial prejudice are political in nature and emanate partly
from group consciousness of “inferiority complexes” and/or “insecurity resulting
from loss of status.” White supremacist Euro-Aryanism was an expression of inferi-
ority complexes stemming from Europe’s realization that it had had nothing to do
with the birth of human civilization in West Asia/Egypt. The debt of Egyptian pha-
raohs to mother Greece was distinctly visible in every science, and even the oldest
piece of philosophy (2880 BC) attributed to Ptah-hotep is 2300 years older than
Buddha and Socrates.16 Thus, the newly created hypothetical language, PIE, and
Aryanism may be seen as “self-glorification and/or delusion” and a release from both
Judeo-Christian dogma and long Muslim (Arab/Turk/Moghul) political domination.
The concept of West Asian (inferior) languages and race and the newly coined
15. W. Halbfas (1988), pp. 138–140.

16. William Durant (Vol. I), pp. 193–212.
24
German term, “Semitic,” may be seen in this perspective. Guy Bunnes (1979) has
explained the dilemma of the racist historians, as reviewed by Martin Bernal:17 “They
maintained that it was unbelievable that nations so important today should have
played no role in the past. It was therefore necessary to assert the rights of Europe
over the claims of Asia.”
Isaac Asimov, too, summed up the issues succinctly in 1991:18 “Historians in
the past have been all too willing to give Indo-European and Semitic racial character-
istics, and since the historians usually spoke IE languages, they let the Indo-European
have all the best of it, making wars between them a combat of good Indo-European
versus evil Semites.”
In India, too, at least three factors seemed to have converged to create anti-
Urdu concepts and/or Hindu nationalism: loss of status as “the cradle of civilization”;
the discovered status of SKT as a foreign/hybrid language; and the new status of the
Dravidians as the authors of the Indus Valley culture. In modern times, Europeans in
general have tried to move away from racism, but in India, Hindu nationalists have
turned to “changing Indian history” as was remarked by the New York Times. 19
Aryans and their SKT, according to this theory, are indigenous, and the Indus Valley
was Aryan, not Dravidian. The Indus Valley seal or script is even proclaimed as
Aryan SKT, though it is still undeciphered. In some recent books such as A New Real
History of the World, the authors seem to cover millions of years of Indian domi-
nation of world history,20 where the great Hindu monarch, “Lord Indra,” is depicted
as addressing a European parliament and signing treaties.
A global perspective has now definitely shifted to a view of African ancestors
as the creators of all languages, with Mesopotamian civilization being the key to col-
lective achievements in the sciences and important languages. Languages certainly
serve as a medium of transport of human creativity. They are all good, equal, useful,
and serve the human need. Goethe’s fine comment captures this spirit: “Sciences and
art belong to the whole world and before them vanish the barrier of nationality.”
1.9 LINGUISTIC LIBERALISM
In fact, in spite of the racist focus on SKT by Schlegel, another German, Jacob
Grim (1785-1863), famous for Grim’s Law, or theory, of “sound shift,” took a scien-
tific and pragmatic approach to linguistics, blunting the prevalent racism. He
defended the general sanctity of all language, citing a sort of human right of language
elaborated by Ludovici. He wrote: “It is desirable that even the smallest and most
despised dialect should be left only to itself and to its own nature and in no way sub-
17. Martin Bernal (1987), p. 376.

18. Isaac Asimov (1991), p. 39.
19. Kai Friese, “Hijacking Indian History: Hindu Nationalist” The New York Times, Dec. 30,
2002.
20. O. P. Verma (2002), pp. 150–160.
25
jected to violence, because it is sure to have some secret advantage over the greatest
and most highly valued language.”
As a matter of fact, Grim’s point had been addressed most eloquently nowhere
else but in the Muslims’ holy book, the Quran, and sayings of their Prophet (6–7th
century AD). Islam treats all languages equally and demystifies even Arabic as just a
linguistic medium, a carrier of ideas and messages. One quote from the Prophet sets
the tone: “O people! The lord is one lord, the father is one father; religion is one
religion. Arabic is neither father nor mother to any of you, but is a language; whoever
speaks Arabic is an Arab.”21 In some passages, the Quran itself reveals the idea of the
multiplicity and use of languages:22 “And among His [God’s] signs is the creating of
heavens and the earth and the variations in your languages and your colors…” (Quran
30:22).
And the Quran also testifies regarding a multiplicity of languages in context
with earlier Prophets/messengers:23 “We [God] sent not an apostle except [to teach]
in the language of his own people in order to make [things] clear to them.” (Quran
14:4).
The Quran, in fact, assigns the reason for its transmission in Arabic.24 It says
(Quran 43:3), “We [God] have made it a Quran in Arabic, that ye may be able to
understand [and learn wisdom].” Obviously, Arabs could never comprehend the
message in a different tongue; a Quranic passage even deals with this aspect. The
stress is on the message/idea/wisdom itself sent earlier in other languages and not
only in the Arabic language. Addressing the Prophet, and through him, mankind,25
the Quran (41:43) says, “Nothing is said to thee [Prophet] that was not said to the
apostles before thee.” And in the next passage (41:44) it elaborates on the people’s
skepticism about language, which is not important in itself. The message is the
wisdom:
Had We [God] sent this Quran [in a language] other than Arabic, they [the
skeptics] would have said, “Why are not its verses explained in detail? What! [a
book or message] not in Arabic and [a messenger] an Arab?” Say [God tells the
Prophet] it is a guide and healing to those who believe.
These and other passages are explicit in the adoption of a people-specific lan-
guage for guidance through Muhammad and/or earlier prophets and messengers, e.g.,
Jesus spoke in Aramaic, Buddha and Mahabeer (400–500 BC), the Indian equivalent
of a prophet, or God’s autar, adopted PKT. Other quotations of the Prophet of Islam
convey the idea of God’s ability to use languages other than Arabic. “If God intends
something gentle, He reveals it to the ministering angels in courtly Persian, if he
intends something severe, he reveals it in clarion Arabic.”
21. Bernard Lewis (1974), p. 196.

22. Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran (1934), p. 1056.
23. Ibid. p. 620.
24. Ibid. p. 1324.
25. Ibid. p. 1299.
26
Muslim society consequently has remained multilingual, with religious litera-

tures in each linguistic family, Austric-Munda, IE, Semitic, Dravidian, abiding, quite
early, with the concept of a linguistic human right.
1.10 LANGUAGE AS A UTILITY IN INDIA
As a transport medium, languages are just another utility like heat and elec-
tricity, in the service of man. Indian grammarians of SKT, though, stand out as a
unique group who pioneered another use of language — political control of people
via a religious hypothesis of sacred language with presumed magical/miraculous
power. By imposing difficult rules of grammar and self-appointment, Brahmins
turned SKT from a secular utility into an object of religious worship, reverence, and a
political tool against “others and their language,” even to the extent of a total purge.
Reaction against Indian Urdu and/or APS (1947), therefore, was not a new phe-
nomenon, more radical political measures having in fact been taken much earlier. The
language of the Indus Valley seals was eliminated, with the loss of continuity of
history. In the next golden period of Indian history (500 BC – AD 200) religious
polemics between Hindus and Buddhists in fact eliminated all written materials,
whether in SKT or PKTs, with the result being that the Asokan inscription (280 BC)
could no longer be read by any Indian. The British deciphered it in the 19th century,
two thousand years after Asoka. Seen from this perspective, the British exploitation
of the Indians’ love of SKT and DNS was nothing innovative.
Quranic declarations regarding the equality of all language, perhaps, had been
addressed to contemporary (6–7th century) exploitations of man through the imposed
“religious sanctity” of languages such as SKT, Avestan or Gatha (old Persian), Latin,
and Hebrew. Interestingly, Arabic, too, was drafted later on into the “religious lan-
guage club.” Religious terms for language and culture, i.e., Hindu, Muslim (Islamic),
Christian, Jewish, etc., are purely political. The true history of Urdu/Hindi, by
necessity, is inherent in the true history of all its ingredients from Mesopotamia,
where Sumerians apparently invented man’s first written language and culture as a
secular enterprise. But languages, through an accumulation of religious literature,
acquire a halo of divinity in the eyes of a political priesthood. The only way to appre-
ciate the historical genesis of Urdu/Hindi is through the concept of utilitarianism,
which certainly calls for freedom from religious dogmas, open-mindedness, and a
global perspective.
India, as a final destination of many tribes, is the richest country in linguistic
variety. Most educated Indians use at least two languages and/or scripts — a mother
tongue or language of rearing (LOR), and a language of social intercourse, work, and
business (LBW). Sometimes they use a third variety, or language of higher education,
science, and technology (LST). In addition, another language may serve as a medium
for religious rituals (LRR), e.g., SKT and Arabic.
Some societies — West Asia, the UK, USA, and China — for better or worse,
use one all-purpose language, i.e., Arabic, English, and Mandarin Chinese. The
Indians had to adopt the most advanced contemporary LSTs in sequence, i.e., SKT,
27
Arabic/Persian, and then English. And all of these had sported a contemporary label
or concept of “foreign language and/or elitist language.” Many educated Indians, his-
torically, have been open-minded bilinguals, conscious of the utilitarian differences in
languages. They seem to have quietly heeded Goethe, who wrote: “The man who
knows no foreign language knows nothing of his mother tongue.”
In fact, an educated middle-class person in India, claiming Urdu as LOR, ends
up using three scripts and four languages, and a Pakistani, two scripts and three or
four languages. A South Indian Muslim living in the north may be the most multi-
lingual person in the world. He would know Urdu/Hindi, English, Arabic, his own
LOR, Tamil or others, and four scripts, i.e., APS, DNS, GRS, and Dravidian.
1.11 GRAMMAR TYPES AND SYNTAX
A general idea of grammar, vis-à-vis the above-mentioned classification and

relevant ontological perspective, is essential to understanding the true nature of
Urdu’s genesis as outlined in later chapters. The terms “Semitic” or “Aryan,” existent
only since the 19th century, are used here only for language families and not races.
Linguists divide the languages into four sub-types as reviewed by F. Bodmer:26
A. Analytical or isolating;
B. Agglutinating;
C. Flexional/Inflectional, or with or without root inflection; and
D. Classificatory
In isolating type, various types of words and/or roots representing verbs and
nouns are unalterable units and do not change to express plurality, gender, or tense.
Chinese is an extreme example. Others, such as the Austric-Munda family, Urdu/
Hindi, English, French, and even Persian, show these features. The use of auxiliary
verb participles, i.e., is, was, and will, or hai, tha, ga of Urdu, is essential.
Agglutinating type, i.e., Dravidian, Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, and Celtic,
etc., and fossil languages like Sumerian and Elamite, utilize affixes (prefixes and suf-
fixes) on the root word, e.g., the Urdu word larki (girl) becomes plural by adding the
suffix yan: larki-yan (girls). The loosely tagged suffixes, when fully amalgamated,
generate the flexional type much romanticized by Schlegel. Examples are Greek,
Latin, and SKT. These are called externally inflected, meaning the root does not
change. For example, in the words go, going, and gone, the root, go, does not change.
More advanced inflection involves root change, called internal or root flexion.
Swim, swam, and swum are typical examples where internal vowel change expresses
the tense without the use of affixes. Root change, a feature of the Germanic or Gothic
branch of the IE family, the pride of German linguists, is, in fact, a feature of the
Semitic family. Arabic, for example, reveals the oldest and most advanced known
flexional system both externally and internally. The Semitic family uses mostly three-
consonant systems with two intervening vowels, which change to make a new word,
and also sometimes uses affixes.
26. F. Bodmer, pp. 189–202.
28
The fourth type, the classificatory, not relevant to the genetics of Urdu or its
substrate, is exemplified by the Bantu group and uses prefixes and labeled classes as a
distinctive feature.
Flexional features or rules, if strictly enforced, obviously retard linguistic
growth and spread. German, Arabic, SKT, and Latin are either dead or confined to
their own homelands or sectarian group. High flexion in Arabic grammar was well
studied many centuries before the German linguists and historiographer Ibn
Khuldun27 had specifically noted the verb/noun conjugation system as a feature of
Arabic, differentiating it from other languages requiring auxiliary verbs. In India,
Alberuni had noted the flexional qualities of SKT and had studied it well28 some 700
years before Sir Williams and others.
The syntax system, or word order in a sentence, consisting of a verb (v), a
subject (s), and an object (o) is another distinguishing feature of various language
families. For example, the SVO type, i.e., “Zain (s) eats (v) bread (o),” is a feature of
the oldest Austric/Munda family and is shared by younger families, with few excep-
tions, including Semitic and most IE branches, SKT, German, and English. The other
most common type, SOV — subject, object, verb, i.e., “Zain bread eats” — is a Dra-
vidian feature adopted by Urdu/Hindi and shared by others, such as the oldest written
languages, Sumerian and Elamite. Among the eight possible combinations of syntax,
the most common types are SVO and SOV. Celtic and Gaelic, or Scottish, share a rare
VOS word order.
1.12 MIDDLE EAST FARMERS: PARENTS OF URDU/HINDI
Man, migrating out of Africa via West Asia, had already colonized all the con-
tinents some 20,000–40,000 years ago, dividing into racial and linguistic tribes under
long isolation due to physical and geographical barriers, and climate influence. The
recession of the Ice Age (15,000 years ago) and the beginning of warmer tempera-
tures that allowed for the development of farming29 (~10,000 BC) led to civilization
and the mutual re-discovery of linguistic tribes. Neolithic farmers of West Asia (Iraq),
growing barley and wheat, those of Southeast Asia, growing rice and millet, and
those of Mexico, growing corn and beans, migrated, carrying their new technology
and their culture and language to other places. Farmers from Iraq reached Palestine/
Egypt, Asia Minor/Turkey, and Baluchistan (India) in 7000–8000 BC, and from
Southeast Asia to the north and south Pacific and to India, bringing rice in 1500–1000
BC. The oldest evidence of rice in India is found near Allahabad.30
Migrants to Turkey and Europe authored the earliest IE languages, after inter-
acting with older, local paleolithic tribes. In Iran and Baluchistan (India) they spoke
proto-Elamo-Dravidian or proto-Dravidian. Farmers entering India, interfacing with
27. N. J. Dawood (1989), pp. 433–438.

28. Edward Sachau (1971), pp. 17–18.
29. Sforza Luigi–Luca Cavalli (2000), pp. 92–132.
30. Raymond and Bridget Allchin (1983), pp. 117–118.
29
the Austric-Munda speakers, must have generated the earliest hybrid (s), Proto-Urdu/
Hindi or Proto-PKT.
Linguistic studies supported by archaeology and the decipherment of scripts
and most recently complemented by molecular genetics and gene tracking, have
exploded many religious myths about “HEB” and SKT, documenting the oldest
written version of several families (Table 1), Sumerian (~4000 BC), Semitic (~3000
BC), Egyptian (~3000 BC), Chinese (~2000 BC), Elamo-Dravidian (~3000 BC), IE
Hittite (1500 BC), IE Persian (~500 BC), Indian PKT-Pali (~300 BC), and IE SKT
(AD 150).
In Urdu’s home theater, India, the various ingredients obviously have had a dif-
ferent timeframe for arrival, Indianization and hybridization. Just to repeat, the Dra-
vidian and Austric-Munda hybrid, proto-Urdu, became layered after several thousand
years by the invading Aryan language, Vedic-SKT (1000–1500 BC), and then by
Arabic and Persian, Persian having evolved as invading Aryans arrived, speaking Old
Persian or Avestan (a sister of Vedic), which had been earlier hybridized with existing
Elamo-Dravidian and Semitic Assyrian/Aramaic (Table 1). Arabic itself arose as a
successor to Sumerian-Akkadian-Assyrian-Aramaic, mutually exchanging elements
with Elamo-DR and Persian, before a recent acquisition of its name in the pre-Islamic
Middle East (~AD 300).
Religious idioms tend to color and even hijack the common human heritage of
linguistic evolution for exploitation in racial politics. West Asian culture going back
about 12,000 years is now sported as Islamic and/or Jewish; its eastern offshoot,
Indian culture (~10,000 years), an Austro-Dravidian-Aryan mixture, is presented as
Hindu or Aryan, and the Greco-Roman-European (~5,000 years), a western offshoot
of West Asia, as Christian or Western. These purely secular/cultural linguistic entities
are best viewed in regional terms, i.e., West Asian/Indian and European culture, etc.
Religious terms are certainly non-academic and political. Above all, these cultural
centers, in fact, are creations of common ancestors from Africa. Tracking their
migration and linguistic division into families are some recent contributions of
American linguists and molecular geneticists. Thus, the scientific genetics of Urdu/
Hindi and the shared genes of its speakers — Hindus, Muslims, and others — is a
really exciting part of the story of Urdu, as discussed in the following chapter.
1.13 CHAPTER SUMMARY
The chapter provides an overview of the genetics of language classification,

mainly inspired by mythical and racial world views that espouse two rival hypo-
thetical civilizations and languages, i.e., Aryan-IE and Semitic. Bifurcation of the one
language that was common to the people of Moghul India into the Hindu’s Hindi and
the Muslim’s Urdu, which served the politics of Great Britain, was noted in the
chapter as part of a divisive, racist ploy to partition India. The chapter also notes the
unsettling of the race theory by discoveries of evidence of earlier language and
culture in Mesopotamia, which revealed the origin of IE, DR, and Semitic languages
from the Middle East. The chapter also cites the cumulative evolution of Urdu/Hindi
30
from ancient ingredients from Mesopotamia, including SKT, also from the Middle
East, and negates the notion that SKT played a fundamental role in the evolution of
Urdu/Hindi, which has an entirely different grammar and syntax. Lastly, the chapter
characterizes language as a utility that lacks any divine or religious holiness, any sug-
gestions to the contrary being only a political tool.
31
CHAPTER II. PHONETICS, LINGUISTICS AND GENETICS —
DNA
2.0 INTRODUCTION
Some have rightly compared Urdu/Hindi to a sponge, ever ready to absorb new
words — a feature which it shares with English. Thus, man’s oldest written Sumerian
words, such as gu (cow), gar (house), rab (God) and also modern European words,
e.g. school, stool, rail, jail, fail, class, glass, ticket, wicket, coat, boat, are among
several hundred which enliven its dynamic vocabulary of some half a million. The
vocabulary comes mainly from Austric-Munda and Dravidian families. Other con-
tributors are also well known — SKT, Persian, and Arabic. The initial classification
of Urdu/Hindi as a dialect of IA-SKT was obviously presumptive and, at best, ten-
tative in the 19th–20th centuries. Research on pre-Aryan languages was almost non-
existent and virtually everything except Arabic-Persian words were presumed as
SKT. Some of these words, drawn from a much longer list and discussed in chapters
III, IV and V, can surprise anybody. They are, in fact, very high profile but are not
SKT words: pundit (learned), brahmin (priest), mandir (temple), manush (man), puja
(worship), jal (water), nagar (city), etc. Classification, as said earlier, was racially
oriented and never peer reviewed.
Men in 19th century Europe had a limited view of history, a view influenced by
Judeo-Christian myths and a time line of just over 5000 years, precisely starting on
October 4, 4004 BC, at 9:00 A.M.31 The hypothetical PIE of German linguists was
arbitrarily projected to have existed some 6000 years ago, perhaps to beat the “bib-
lical clock.” PIE itself was hailed as the white man’s rediscovered speech from a glo-
rious past and was proudly cited as an Aryan language, rich, inflected, and superior to
Semitic and other languages. These exciting ideas blended smoothly in race-con-
31. F. Bodmer (1985), pp. 197–203.
33
scious Europe, deluded by the idea of the polygenetic origin of man and the Eurasian
species having existed for millions of years.
Linguistic classification, based on race, was held as the “final end result,” and
PIE/IE as a kind of “holy family” not open to further research. Later research did,
however, expose the linguistic chauvinism, and linguist Merritt Ruhlen and others
have paraphrased this as “simple ethnocentrism.”32
This was no different than the holy myths of HEB/SKT and IA-SKT-Hindi/
Urdu, but was merely an extension of that grand illusion. This illusion was pierced by
the decipherment of archaeological finds in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. But as nothing
goes to waste in nature, rules formalized for reconstructed PIE generated other proto
languages, and linguistic science has recently revealed a kind of unity of man’s
speech, through the work of Merritt Ruhlen and others.
Basic rules of phonetics and sound shift help us to understand even Urdu’s
variable pronunciations and, for example, why words such as Vajpai and Victoria in
cities like Lucknow, and Lahore to London, become Bajpai and Bictoria in places like
Calcutta, Manila, Mexico, Hispanic South Bronx (New York) or Chinatown of New
York City, and also why an Arab cab driver in New York has to “bark” (park) to let a
passenger off. These rules certainly help us to understand the connections between
various languages.
Complementing this theme even further, Cavalli Sforza and a worldwide team
of other biologists and geneticists have connected the speakers of Urdu/Hindi and
other linguistic groups to an African ancestor and his language.
2.1 GENETICS BLUNTS LINGUISTIC RACISM
Language pride, another term for racism, is apparently much older than the
myths of HEB, SKT, or PIE. Like everything else, racism can be traced back to the
recorded history of the Sumerians, whose language and culture interfaced with
Elamitic in the East, and Akkadian (Semitic) in the West, and still affects all human
groups. Myths, which perhaps arose because of a lack of recorded history, had
divided society in groups, streaming in the Noah’s ark myth from Noah’s descendant
Ham (Blacks), Japheth (Whites), and Shem (West Asian and Semitic). This notion
was easy to comprehend, and it was easy to be misled by the physical differences of
skin and eye color, hair texture, nasal contours, etc., based on race/region/polygenesis
and/or hereditary and genetic factors. Language difference was then just another
assumed manifestation of race, i.e., Chinese, African, West Asian (Semitic), and
Indian.
Medical science now explains the physical differences as a function of heat and
fluid/water regulation and adaptation to climate, latitude, and altitude. Man’s origin
out of Africa and his subsequent differentiation has gained global acceptance. A
recent book by Cavalli Sforza, Genes, People, and Languages, a milestone on the
subject, brings it all together.33
32. Merritt Ruhlen (1994), pp. 76-81.
34
Chapter II. Phonetics, Linguistics and Genetics — DNA
In the last quarter century or so, scientists have been able to study hundreds of
thousands of blood specimens from all the major human races on every continent.
They analyzed blood group types (A, B, AB, O, Rh+, Rh-), various antibodies (a type
of blood protein), various hemoglobin types like those indicating sickle cell diseases,
etc., and most importantly, the genetic material of X and Y chromosomes, the deter-
minants of gender, and of mitochondrial genes, which are special genes in each body
cell that act like a powerhouse or furnace to burn nutrients, releasing the energy we
all need.
A short review of X and Y chromosomes is a must for the uninitiated in
biology. All body cells, called somatic cells, contain 23 pairs, or 46 chromosomes,
including a pair called sex chromosomes designated as X and Y. Females contain two
X’s, an XX pair, and in males, the pair consists of an X and a Y. Reproductive cells
(sperm and ovum/egg) have only half, or 23 chromosomes, with only one sex chro-
mosome, either X or Y (in the sperm) or X (in the female’s ovum). In a random fusion
of sperm and ovum during fertilization, the fused cell, or zygote, with 46 chromo-
somes, thus may have either an XY or an XX combination, which produces a male or
female child, respectively. Mitochondrial genes are only passed on via the X chro-
mosome. Humans have a few thousand genes, which determine physical features
besides having thousands of other functions. Genes are structured on the famous
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) model with two coiled or twisted threads, the double
helix, joined by four (cross-) chemical bases (Fig II. 2).
DNA, individual-specific and used in forensic investigations, may undergo
changes called mutations. It is the mutation of the Y chromosome DNA, and of mito-
chondrial DNA, which is most important in tracking human migration out of Africa,
because these mutations are sequential, time-bound, predictable, and can be used as a
clock, in a manner similar to Carbon 14 dating. In these rather fascinating studies,
Cavalli Sforza and his associates tracked the oldest human to Central East Africa, to
about 100,000–150,000 years ago. They tracked the mutation of the Y chromosome
representing males and mitochondrial genes representing females into several types,
numbering 1–10, “Adams” and 18 types of corresponding “Eves,” designated by
letters A–G, H, K, etc., and developed a hypothesis showing modern humans (Homo
sapiens) branching out to all continents by roughly 20,000–60,000 years ago, and
replacing older Neanderthal man in Europe and Asia around 40,000 years ago.
Various divided groups and linguistic families later interacted, exchanging vocab-
ulary, syntax, and grammar, creating hybrids, and also replacing even whole lan-
guages. Some excellent examples include English, French, and Spanish as mother
tongues among African and American Indian ethnic groups on the American conti-
nents. India is another good place to find hybrid languages, as we will see later.
Linguistic studies by Ruhlen, and the archaeological and historical data of
many authors, such as Collin Renfrew etc., are important to integrate the data of
Cavalli Sforza and others. They help explain what happened in the post-Ice Age
(6,000–25,000 years), the advent of Neolithic farming in Iraq (~10,000 years BC),
35
and the spread of languages by agriculture-based societies. One pre-Sumerian culture,

possibly early Neolithic, is of special interest. Described by Elliot Smith and entitled
“Heliolithic” or “Sun and Stone,” this culture, according to H. G. Wells,34 was based
around the Eastern Mediterranean and presumably was developed by a brown race.
Its cultigens include the use of massive stones, worship of the sun and the serpent, tat-
tooing, mummification, circumcision, and use of the swastika, or double Gammadion
cross, apparently for good luck. These cultural traits, accumulated perhaps from the
pre-Neolithic era, were transmitted everywhere including Europe, India, and the
Americas, as part of a later secondary dispersal. The language (s) of this group or
groups (unknown) must have been absorbed into those of previous and later settlers
— Stonehenge, the pre-Celtic culture of England, Peruvians, the earliest phase of
Indus Valley (Dravidian) farmers, and (pre-Homer) Greek. They spoke a simple lan-
guage, isolating, monosyllabic, and/or pre-Sumerian, or perhaps an agglutinative,
proto-Dravidian language of India, and proto-Celtic or Pictic of England. A short
synthesis of genetics and linguistic ideas from Sforza’s book follows:
• Man reached north Africa (presumably from central East) in some 40,000–
50,000 years ago, and a group went into Europe, generating the oldest European
man and his language, “Basque.”
• The two branches, moving eastward, all descendants of Adam #3, populated
the rest of the globe, including Eurasia and the Americas, Europe being populated
mainly by migrants later shifting back westward from Asia.
• Urdu/Hindi speakers, all descendants of Adam #5 and Eve G, are genetically
similar,35 with some minor differences between North and South Indian
Dravidian speakers, who were the earliest farmers (~8000 BC) from the Middle
East, and had also populated Iran and Afghanistan.
• The most ancient language group of the subcontinent, the “Brushaski”
speakers of northwest Pakistan, which had defied classification, is found to be
genetically related to Basque-speakers of Spain and France.
• Speakers of IE are descendants of the farmers from the Middle East
migrating north to Asia Minor first and then elsewhere, making Syria/Turkey the
most probable homeland of this language family, discrediting all myths of an
Aryan homeland. Speakers of IA-SKT-Vedic and old Persian-Avestan are
obviously secondary migrants (~1000 BC) after Elamite and Dravidian were well
settled. (The evidence described in chapters III to V in essence confirms the work
of geneticists.)
• Central Asia (northern Mesopotamia, Turkey, and the Caspian area)
according to Cavalli Sforza has been crisscrossed by human migrations in all
directions36 and has been a sort of racial and linguistic melting pot. Europe and
Asia are genetically and linguistically one continent, as is evident from the
multiplicity of fossil languages (as many as twelve) including Semitic, IE, DR,
Turkish, and Armenian (to be discussed later).
34. H. G. Wells (1971), pp. 120–122.

35. Sforza Luigi-Luca Cavalli (2000), pp. 159–165.
36
•There is no such thing as “pure races,”37 which refutes de Gobineau and

other Aryanists like Hitler. Moreover, it is really absurd to expect or desire purity
of a human subgroup or race. To achieve partial purity, according to Cavalli
Sforza, one would need “at least twenty generations of inbreeding or, in other
words, brothers, sisters, parents, and children mating repeatedly many times.”
2.2 SPEECH, GENES (FOXP2), AND LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
Sforza’s and Ruhlen’s estimation that the common African language started
branching out about 100,000 years ago (Fig 2.1), gets timely support from the new
research explaining why humans are the only primates with the ability to articulate
speech. The recent discovery of a language gene code, named FOXP2, provides the
insight. Dr. Savante Paabo, according to The New York Times,38 identified the gene,
which is shared by chimpanzees, which underwent a mutation about 100,000 years
ago and turned on human speech. The mutant FOXP2 apparently switched other
genes controlling the brain circuits to drive the speech process. Scientists have corre-
lated a lack of this mutant gene (FOXP2) with the absence of articulated speech in 14
otherwise normal persons in a family of 29; the remaining 15 have normal speech but
do have the mutant FOXP2.
Beyond speech evolution and the development of defined language families as
we know them, Urdu’s evolution is really rooted in the decipherment of “fossil lan-
guages,” as mentioned earlier.
As the earliest recorded history on clay tablets from Mesopotamia and else-
where was first decoded in 19th century, linguists found man’s oldest language (Table
1.1), “Sumerian,” to be a monosyllabic, agglutinative language with 15 consonants
and 5 basic vowels. The history of language, barely 6000 years old, thus began with
the simple words of Sumerian such as bi (house), and ap (water), which later became
bait and ab in Urdu. In the next four thousand years or so, by the time of Cyrus of
Iran (6th century BC) we find evidence of comparative linguistics, bi- and trilingual
dictionaries, the appearance of more consonants, the appearance of noun and verb
flexions, literature and libraries, and three distinct varieties of languages including the
Semitic type (Akkadian/Assyrian-Aramaic) with full flexion, agglutinative (Elamite,
a cousin of Dravidian), and IE Hittite, with some verb flexion and the use of auxiliary
verbs, i.e. “is,” a notable feature of an isolating language. The Achemenian (Aryan-
Persian) takeover of the Assyrian Empire (6–5th century BC) was another great mile-
stone for linguistic science. Cyrus’ preference for Aramaic and Iranian Elamite
helped enrich his own mother tongue, Avestan or Old Persian. There is evidence
around this time of the dispersal of Phoenician Aramaic script and its later adoption
as Greco-Roman and Asokan script. We find references to numerous languages, but
37. Ibid. pp. 12–13.

38. Nicholas Wade. Language genes traced to emergence of humans. NY Times, August
15th, 2002.
37
the Bible’s reference to as many as 127 (Esther 8:9) can be assumed to be intended
figuratively or symbolically.
Indian languages were represented by some PKT (s), or Pali, as evidenced by
almost contemporary Asokan inscription and some of the earliest Dravidian dialects
like Brahui, etc. Written history, the modern version, begins about this time with
Herodotus, a Persian employee, who is mute about Indian languages. Panini (400
BC), the SKT grammarian, represents a high point for linguistics, deducing some
4000 rules and classifying various phonemes (consonants and vowels).
Alexander’s invasion (3rd century BC), warfare in Europe, and religious propa-
gation in the ensuing centuries led to the emergence of Greek, Latin, Gothic, and
other languages in Europe and West Asia. Latin, a late intruder in West Asia and
Greece, was pushed out by the new Semitic languages. Arabic, which regained the
lost territory of Aramaic, went into Europe (Spain), Central Asia, and India by AD
712, and also brought Islam from West Asia. Studies of linguistics and grammar
flowered as a secular subject, and Arabic studies became the focus of European uni-
versities.
While the spread of Christianity propagated the use of the Bible, in German,
English, and French, for example, Arabic remained the global language of science.
One British Arabist, William Bedwell (1561–1632), recorded its merits in literature
and sciences and also its universal values, according to Bernard Lewis39. Besides
Arabic, Persian and Turkish shared the prestige of high medieval civilization up to the
18th to 19th centuries.
2.3 GREAT ARAB LINGUISTS
Though the world had become polarized between Christian Europe and an
Islamic Arab region, Arab linguists became fluent in European languages, especially
in Spain, Cairo, and Baghdad. Interestingly, unlike the Romans, who tended to
impose the use of Latin, Arabs adopted the local languages, perhaps based on
Quranic injunctions, and studied other people’s languages rather than requiring them
to learn Arabic. An Arab scholar in AD 906, Ibn al Nadim as reviewed by Bernard
Lewis generated a comprehensive survey of non-Arabic literature, listing sixteen lan-
guages including those of Lombardi, Saxon, and Greek. Alberuni studied SKT and
PKT in India, not to mention Greek, Persian, and Arabic. A Moroccan, in the 17th
century, noticed the common features between Arabic and Latin, both having flexion
of verbs and similar syntax. Khatib Calebi, a great linguist of his time, pioneered a
detailed history of all the European languages from Greek to German and included
many minor languages, like Breton, Tuscan, Bosnian, Basque, and Albanian. Another
linguist, Evliya Calebi made a great study of German and noted its similarity to
Persian in such words as tochter-dukhtar (daughter) and bruder-brader (brother).
According to Bernard Lewis he also ventured a guess that Germans were migrants
39. Bernard Lewis (1982), pp. 71–88.
38
from Persia, not totally wrong, based on the current view about the spread of IE lan-
guages by Middle East farming cultures moving to the West.
But the works of European linguists were also pioneering, especially when it
came to the idea of sound shift and rules of reconstruction. Other “discoveries,” such
as flexion in Latin, German, and SKT, exposed their political jealousy and/or igno-
rance of history.
To understand Urdu’s genesis, it is important to review the basics of phonetics
and related linguistics. This perhaps seemingly dry subject has been laid out in simple
language by authors like L. J. Ludovici and George Yule, to name a few.
Table II.1
Speech Phonemes
HARD SOFT SOFT SEMI SIBI- DIPH-

LEVEL HARD SOFT VOWELS
ASP ASP NASAL VOWELS LANTS THONGS
-V -V +V +V +V +V -V
[a]
gutteral [k] [q]1 [kh] [kh]2 [g] [gh] [gh]3 [n] [h] [e], [ai]
[a] (aa)
[i]
palatal [c] [ch] [j] [jh] [n] [y]
[l] (ee)
cerebral [r]
[t] [th] [d] [dh] [n] [r] [sh]
retroflex [r]
[d] [z]4
dentals [t] [th] [dh] [zh] [n] [l] [s] [l]
[dz]5
[u] [o]
labials [p] [ph] [f]6 [b] [bh] [m] [v] [f]6
[u] (uu) [au]
-V=voiceless, +V=voiced
Arabic phonemes of Urdu 1. q (quran) 2. kh (khomeni) 3. gh (ghalti-error) 4. z (zebra) 5. dz (ramadzan) 6. f+V (fox)
2.4 PHONETICS OF URDU/HINDI AND OTHERS
Human speech obviously has undergone evolution from a primitive (unre-

corded) to a modern stage. Some ideas of the past, or “footprints,” can be appre-
hended from the evolution of speech as it develops among infants. A normal speech
making system apparently consists of hearing (H), perception (P), or recognition by
the auditory (hearing) cortex (a part of the brain, under the temple of the skull), which
also initiates speech (S) by its speech center, called “Broca’s area,” on the left side of
the brain in the right-handed person and vice versa, and finally a vocalization (V)
unit, or voice box or vocal cord, of the larynx or throat (in the Adam’s apple), which
regulates the slit size and air flow in the throat, and sound quality. Movements of the
tongue, the jaws, the soft palate or uvula, and the lips modify and deliver the final
phonemes or syllables.
Normal babies with an intact HPSV circuit/system, similar to lower primates,
initially make gurgling, guttural vocal sounds called vowels (a, e, u, etc.) but by 6–8
months, their first syllables, ma, mum, um, ab, ad, da, ak, etc., delight everybody. The
rest is imitation and repetition, leading to a vocabulary of 3–4 words by 12–15
39
months. By 3 years of age, the child forms simple sentences, e.g., “I want water,”
consisting of a subject (S), a verb (V), and an object (O). Words or syllables are
always made up of vowels (V) and consonants (C) (Table II.1), and the smallest
words or monosyllables must have one of each. For example, the word ma (mother)
with consonant m and vowel a is CV type, ap (water in Sumerian) VC type, but
water, a polysyllabic word, [C1V1C2V2C3], consists of three different consonants
(w, t, and r) and two different vowels (a and e).
Human speech, by the Sumerians’ time (~4000 BC) largely consisted of mono-
syllables built using 15 Cs and 5 Vs as detailed in Chapter III. It is possible that early
language possibly had just eight basic phonemes, which would have developed grad-
ually during unknown antiquity. These include k,g,c,j,t,d,p,b (Table II.1). Phonemes,
usually written within brackets [ ] as a convention, have multiplied with time to as
many as 38 consonants and 13 vowels in Urdu/Hindi. They are categorized (Table
II.1), based on the level of articulation, according to the scheme pioneered by Panini.
Four levels of articulation, starting from the deepest part of the throat, or gullet,
include two gutturals, [k] and [g], two palatals or velars, [c] and [j], spoken with the
tongue rising to touch the hard palate, two dentals, [t] and [d], with the tongue
touching the dental ridge, and two labials, [p] and [b], articulated by the labials, or
lips. Of these, four ([b], [d], [j], and [g]) are assisted by vibration of the vocal cord,
and are learned earlier by the infant. These are teleologically older, and linguists refer
to them as voiced (indicated as +V Table II.1). The other four ([p], [t], [c], and [k]),
called voiceless or unvoiced (indicated as -v), are unassisted by vocal cords and
therefore require more sophistication in use.40
A fifth level of articulation, shown in the third horizontal row, called retroflex
or cerebrals, are special (inclusive of English hard t and d) to South Asian speech
families including Urdu/Hindi (Table II.1). They are generated by the tongue
touching the highest point on the hard palate. Six of the 8 [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g] are
also called “stops,” because they stop abruptly and cannot be prolonged, while the 2
palatals [c], [j] possess some aspiration and are prolonged. Two voiced sounds, [m]
and [n], labial and dental, respectively, which accompany passage of air through nose,
are called nasals. Other voiced ones: [h],[ y],[ r], [l], [v/f] (Table II.1) are also called
semi-vowels, because of the excessive use of vocal cords. [R] and [l] are called liquid
sounds. Sibilants, or hissing sounds, such as [s], [s/sh], [zh], [dz], along with [f], [v],
[th], [gh], and [kh], are also termed “fricatives,”41 as they tend to generate friction.
These are some standard phonemes common to all languages. Urdu/Hindi also
uses compound aspirants, i.e., ph, th, kh, etc. Ten of these are shown adjacent to [p],
[t], and [k]. Of the 13 vowels, by definition voiced sounds, the basic five (a, e, i, o, u)
short and their corresponding longer version â, ç, î, ô, and diphthongs ai, au, etc are
most common in Urdu and English as well. The table for transliteration in the
beginning of the book lists their usage along with the usage of some important pho-
nemes. These are important to the understanding of various Urdu/Hindi quotations
from the literature. A review of this and Table II.1 underscores the richness of
40. L. J. Ludovici (1965), pp. 99–105.

41. George Yule (1997), pp. 45–46.
40
Urdu’s phonemes, accumulated from antiquity. Beyond the basic 8 consonants and
10 vowels, retroflex or cerebral sounds and nasal n and m that belong to the pre-
SKT phase come mainly from Austric-Munda and Dravidian families; Arabic pho-
nemes, West Asian, or so called Semitic sounds [q], [kh], [gh], [z], etc., are obvi-
ously later additions. These are further discussed in chapter 16 and elsewhere.
A teleological perspective and various sound shifts are important to understand
the variation between Urdu and para-Urdu and between other dialects. An example of
variation is seen in sickness and fatigue, when unvoiced becomes voiced; or a
regression to older acquired phonemes, e.g. there is tendency to substitute d for t, and
table becomes dable, thirty, dirty, etc., and p, t, and k unvoiced may become voiced,
b, d, q. This is also attributable to human laziness, according to Ruhlen.42 For
example, pronouncing aba (father) is easier than apa (father), as all 3 phonemes (a, b,
a) are voiced — this means using the vocal cord only once — while in apa one uses
the vocal cord twice, before and after the stop p, spending more energy/air. Perhaps
the same phenomenon encouraged the replacement of [p] by [b] in Arabic. The
process is also apparent in the ma, (mother), ba, da, etc., as the infant can easily use
both voiced phonemes in a single use of the vocal cord; p appears later.
2.5 GROWTH, GRAMMAR, AND ACCIDENCE
Merritt Ruhlen and Cavalli Sforza have reorganized the linguistic families as
we know them, which generated Urdu’s ancient families (Fig II–1). But it is impos-
sible from these studies to capture the evolution of grammar and syntax. This is only
visible since the Sumerian period, which is not earlier than 6000 years ago. For the
growth of any language, however, linguists agree that new words are formed and
exchanged on the streets and in the market places; people and not grammarians create
and use languages as a utility, as discussed before. Grammar is just a follow up
exercise to record created speech, a recorded observation of the process and evolu-
tionary word bank and the deposits made throughout the years. Interference in this
cycle retards growth, as the imposition of grammar rules by Panini arrested SKT. For
a luxuriant growth of language, no grammar is the best grammar — according to
some. The creation of neo-Hindi by the British was another example of interference
leading to a regressed artificial language, to be discussed later (Chapters 10 and 13).
Accidence is a process of “new word” creation or acquisition, a feature of
grammar, of which inflection, or flexion, is one example noted in the earlier chapter.
Languages can also be classified on this basis, again into three main types and a
fourth one, a mixed type, as follows:
Isolating type, requiring the use of auxiliary verb participles like “is,” “was.”
Chinese, Austric-Munda
Agglutinating type, (using suffixes) includes Dravidian, Finnish-Ugaric,
Turkish-Altaic, Caucasian (Georgian, Chechen, etc.) and Celtic and Armenian
branches of the IE family.
42. Merritt Ruhlen (1994), pp. 17–31.
41
Amalgamating or inflected type, wherein affixes are fixed completely or amal-

gamated to the root; also called inflection or flexion. Four sub-types are seen:
a. full external flexion of verb and case, i.e., SKT, Latin, Greek
b. external verb flexion with partial and no case flexion, i.e., French, Italian,
Spanish, German, and Persian
c. full external flexion of verb and case plus internal or root flexion of verb,
i.e., Arabic
d. external flexion of verb plus some root flexion and partial case flexion, i.e.,
Gothic, German
Mixed Type, in which the most dominant features are “isolating,” plus a
sprinkle of agglutination and minor inflection, e.g., Urdu/Hindi and English.
Most linguists of the past, Shlegal, Rask, and others have equated the presence
of flexion with “higher quality” and evolutionary status of a language and its decrease
or absence as evidence of decay/degeneration; SKT in this theory exemplified the
perfect mother with Urdu/Hindi as degenerated inferior daughter dialects. The same
analogy seemed logical for English as a deteriorated, inferior dialect devolving from
a more “perfect” Gothic/German, and French and Spanish from Latin.
These scholars held up the view that isolation, agglutination, and amalgam-
ation in fact represent stages in language evolution and deterioration; starting from
the amalgamate stage downwards to isolation; this was compatible with the mythical
view of deterioration of SKT. The IE family with its grandmother PIE was presumed
to be the most evolved, having inflection and 52 phonemes with 30 consonants,43a
copy of SKT; and in a given tract presumably daughters of PIE (pure Gothic, Latin,
SKT) would decay the flexion in stages to develop isolating (inferior) features and
become similar to modern English, French, Urdu/Hindi. But the discoveries of fossil
languages, Sumerian, Akkadian, and Hittite, having only 13–15 consonants and 5
vowels even as late as 1300 BC, and the presence of full flexion in much older
“Semitic” Akkadian, and imperfected flexion in Hittite, the oldest “presumed IE
entity,” really unraveled the entire theory of PIE and its daughters and granddaughters
in the IE–Aryan family.
The alternate theory that language evolves from an isolating type towards
becoming an amalgamating type seems to have some logic in the sense that we see
evolution generally moving from simple to more complex. A third view holds that
these stages run through spiral cycles; this is really most difficult to prove as the
entire history of linguistics is just about 6000 years old and none has witnessed a full
cycle anywhere yet. Obviously, Urdu/Hindi and English have evolved slowly,
retaining their isolating feature, i.e., the use of auxiliary verbs. Linguists don’t seem
to know why inflection arose.
Based on medical and physiological considerations, it is tempting to theorize
that agglutination and flexion may represent degrees of adaptation to conserve water
and energy, representing an adaptation to the environment by conservation of scarce
resources. The conditions of water and/or food shortage would gear the HPSV system
43. S.K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 267-271
42
toward conservation, especially of water, critical in Arabian/Syrian/Saharan North

Africa. For example, one single inflected verb or agglutinated word is more energy
efficient than a full sentence, as these few examples reveal:
Inflected Isolated (Urdu/Hindi)
(Persian)dadaiti (he gives) voh deta hai
(SKT) dati (he gives) voh deta hai
(Latin) dat ( he gives) voh deta hai
(Arabic) akla (he eats) voh khata hai
(Arabic) aklat (she eats) voh khati hai
The harshest (desert) conditions would favor maximal flexion, i.e., Semitic
Arabic of the Arabian/Syrian desert. Less severe locations, the south (dry) Iran, Eur-
asian steppes and central Asia, featured agglutinated features; in other words, Sum-
erian, Elamite, Caucasian, Turkish, Finnish, Celtic, Dravidian, etc., have had
agglutinative speech. Flexion once evolved in West Asian deserts had become
entrenched. Each type then protected its own mother tongue during the following
thousands of years. Flexion and agglutination apparently must have migrated with
Middle East farmers to India, Turkey, and Europe, while tertiary invasion and/or
admixture by Romans, Germans, Indians, Aryans, etc., led to absorption of some
flexion by locals. The oldest lingua franca of Europe, Celtic, was and is agglutinated.
In India the oldest people, Austric-Munda (from the pre-Neolithic period), must have
maintained their elaborate long sentences (Urdu/Hindi) or isolating features with no
incentive to conserve water, as it was always in plentiful supply. This concept of the
origin of flexion, coming from a physician, not a trained linguist, is obviously hypo-
thetical and requires further research.
Syntax, another element of grammar, reveals variable evolution. Among the
eight different combinations of SVO as mentioned in the previous chapter, Semitic
Arabic, Austric-Munda, IE SKT, English, and French are SVO type. Syntax is least
conservative within the IE family itself; Celtic (Scot) has VSO type, while German
uses SOV, SVO, and VSO type in different situations,44 and English too has used
VSO and OVS types.45 The oldest type, perhaps, is represented by Chinese, the most
isolating language with a continuous record. Here, verbs and nouns may function as
interchangeable units or words. For example the word shang, according to Bodmer,46
means 1) above one, or ruler, 2) above, or on, any object etc., and can be used as a
noun shang or ruler. But in shang ma (horse), which means to mount the horse, it is a
verb and in ma shang (on the horse) it serves as a preposition. Syntax is an irrelevant
concept in Chinese.
In Urdu/Hindi, the syntax is SOV type, a Dravidian heritage. Gender, number,
and tense, important items of grammar, reveal wide variability. Semitic Arabic, SKT,
Latin, and Austric-Munda use three number types: singular, plural, and dual; Dra-
vidian, along with Urdu and Para-Urdu and English, have only two. Genders, too, are
44. F. Bodmer (1985), pp.184–185.

45. George Yule (1997), pp. 213–221.
46. F. Bodmer (1985), p. 433.
43
three: male, female, and neuter, a feature common in most IE, including SKT and
English. But Hittite, the oldest IE, had only animate and non-animate, perhaps an
ancient legacy still maintained in the Austric-Munda family.
Gender distinction evolved from a common form for both, as in the Chinese
and Austric-Munda family, to two in later families, Dravidian and Semitic, and then
to three in some members of the IE family. Urdu/Hindi follows the Arabic and Dra-
vidian line of two genders, but some para-Urdus, like Bengali, Oriya, or even Bihari
Urdu, have retained single gender verbs. It is obviously wrong to assume that the
absence of SKT’s third gender and dual number from Urdu/Hindi is a result of loss or
decay as was the presumption for flexion. It is more likely that Hindi/Urdu moved
from a single gender (Austric Munda) to a two-gender system under Dravidian
influence. These issues will come up later in our discussion on the genetics of the IE/
PIE family and its linkage with Urdu/Hindi.
2.6 CLASSIFICATION: A SCIENCE AND AN ART
By initiating linguistic classification, William Jones tended to free languages

from religious myth, though Sir William initiated a new rival myth quite similar to
Darwin’s projection on evolution articulated a bit later. The classification was based
mainly on a commonality of words, not grammar. These were just a handful of words
shared between five original members of the IE family, namely, Greek, Gothic
(German), Italic (Latin), Celtic, and Indo-Iranian (SKT, Persian). Others were added
later. This battery of words consisted of relationship words (mother, father, brother,
sister); words for numbers (two, three, seven, eight, nine, ten); pronouns such as me/
my, thou/that or m/t pronouns and a few verb roots (to carry (bear), to give (dena),
etc.). Sir William, an astute linguist who knew 28 languages, placed “Noah’s” lan-
guages, Arabic and Hebrew, in a separate family, based on a similar idea of common
words. The most basic features of grammar (flexion, number, and syntax) he com-
pletely ignored, though he was aware that the two groups shared these common fea-
tures; they were later named as Aryan (IE) and Semitic, not by him or by any Semitic
people but by a later German linguist with political views as discussed in the previous
chapter.
It is most important to remember the socio-political circumstances surrounding
the birth of linguistics. In this transitional phase (1760–1810), Western Europe
(Catholic and Protestant) dominated much of the world in every science and in liter-
ature, and its main adversary, “Islam,” which had dominated world culture via
Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, was in its declining phase. And most important, the ear-
liest archaeology and the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone had identified Egypt
(~5000 years old) as the source of Greco-Roman (now Christian) civilization. This
cannot have been a pleasant revelation for the Eurocentrics; and Mesopotamia, even
worse in this context, was not even known.
The reconstruction of PIE by August Shleicher (1850s) and associates, was not
timed very felicitously. His efforts were unnecessary, as IE family was already well
established. He seemed to have had a different agenda. PIE, as noted, was conceived
44
as having been an ancestral (the oldest) Aryan language of the glorious Aryan civili-
zation (6000 years old), disseminated from its epicenter in Germany elsewhere by the
hypothetical invading hordes of blue-eyed, blond, tall, knights/horsemen, urvolk,
wiros/hero/SKT-VIR (brave). Aryan-PIE had to outflank, discredit, and outdate both
the biblical myth and Egyptian archaeology in one stroke, because for the Europeans
and Aryan Hindus, West Asian discoveries clearly meant a loss of prime status to the
Middle East.
2.7 RECONSTRUCTION BUSINESS
PIE, though, turned out to be a quasi-scientific tool which the reconstruction

business adopted enthusiastically, going on to create a hypothetical proto Dravidian,
proto Elamo-Dravidian, proto Indo-Iranian, proto Semitic, etc. The process is meant
to discover how language might have been, prior to recorded history. Merritt Ruhlen,
George Yule, and others identify some important principles to clarify this interesting
art by practical exercises to discover common vocabulary, or cognates, between two
or more languages. The principles include 1) Majority principle, and 2) Natural
development or sound shifts.
The majority principle simply compares the words with the same meaning in
various members of a family for phonemes, and the majority wins. For example, if in
seven North Indian dialects, Urdu, Punjabi, etc., the word vir (brave) is spelled with
[v] in 5, including Urdu/Hindi, and with [b] as bir in Bihari and Bengali, one would
conclude that in the unknown source, it was vir, and in a minority it has changed. The
process, though, cannot tell us when, how, and why of the art.
The natural development principle involves sound changes as follows:
• Final vowel often disappears.
• Voiceless sounds ([p], [t], [c], [k]) become voiced ([b], [d], [j], [g]) between
vowels.
• Stops become fricatives under certain conditions.
• Consonants become voiceless at the end of the word.
One might add more shifts, such as the one between retroflex and dentals
which is comprised of three categories: r/l, s/sh, and v/b/p, commonly observed
among various languages in families in India. This will be revisited in context with
SKT/PKT and Urdu’s evolution after 11–12th century.
The most important point to remember, and emphasized by Ruhlen, is that
sound shifts are unpredictable at best and in many languages they do not occur.
Moreover, reconstruction cannot answer why, how, and when questions. Additionally,
reconstruction cannot find the reasons for many odd words in a given family. For
example, the word dog in English and perro (Spanish for dog) has no cognate in their
respective mother sources, German and Latin, where the words are hund and cane.
The art of reconstruction did unveil some affinities between families, i.e.,
McAlpine’s recent creation of protoElamite and protoElamo-Dravidian, a revolu-
tionary step in Urdu’s genesis, to be discussed in later chapters. Cognates between
proto-Semitic and PIE have helped in forging larger families. These and many other
45
Figure II.1 Urdu’s Ancestral Links and Super families (KYA = 1000
years) Urdu’s ingredient-links*
similarities discovered via reconstruction otherwise debunked the theory of PIE with
the exposure of racism in this linguistic classification (Fig II–2). PIE turned out to be
an academic embarrassment or a hot potato. Many linguists don’t believe in this
timeline (6000 years) including the arrival of SKT in India around 1500 BC, which is
linked to the validity of the PIE timeline, considered fictitious by many linguists
including Merritt Ruhlen. Indian linguists seem to have some vested interest in main-
taining the PIE/IE/Aryan theory. Prof. Chatterji hailed PIE as evidence of German
creativity, obviously because SKT had served as the model of PIE, for its phonemes
and grammar, and the assumption of disintegration theory, PIE breaking up into its
daughters. In fact, shared vocabulary and grammar between IE/Semitic and others is
significant and is utilized in the proposed classification in chapter 17; but linguists
have indulged in creating superfamilies, revealing general “inclusiveness” but mainly
through reconstruction.
Examples are as follow:
ProtoSemitic PIE English
awr (Arabic-sor or thor) *Tauro bull, ox
*wajn (Heb-yayeen) *weino wine, grape
*Saotar *hastar star, evening/morning star, Venus
(URDU Sitara)
sabs-at-u-m (Semitic seven) *septum seven (URDU sat, PERS Hafta)
2.8 EMERGENCE OF SUPERFAMILIES
Linguistic classification, tentative as it is, must evolve in the true spirit of Sir
William by finding resemblances or cognates, just as in animal taxonomy (where sci-
entists look at bird and fish groups to discover other mammalian cousins, even in
46
unexpected places, like bats, and whales). Progress in this direction is slow because
of the efforts of many scholars to protect, according to Ruhlen47, the sanctity of the
PIE/IE family/concept. This led to the expansion of the IE family by inclusion of
Albanian, Armenian, and Slavonic branches, etc., and also the emergence of a super
family, “Nostratic,” proposed by Pederson48 (1924), who put Semitic and Uralic-
Altaic together in this group. Two pioneers, Alfredo Thrombeti and Morris Swadesh,
a bit later provided linguistic evidence that all languages were related to single
family,49 (a challenging concept in early 20th century). But the protectors of IE, the
Indo-Europeanists, were clearly driven by race issues and would only include
Semitic. But according to Ruhlen, those others, Uralic-Altaic and Eskimo-Aleut, etc.,
reveal much greater linguistic affinity to IE than IE to Semitic. Racial biases perhaps
also operated in “Nostratic” (which means “our language” in Latin), which had ini-
tially excluded Dravidian, a presumed non-Aryan language. Linguistic division
between Aryan/IE North and Dravidian South India, overtly based on myth and race,
was played up via academic differences in grammar and syntax. Interestingly, this
had even duped the Indian linguists, mostly Brahmins (who were either ignorant or
played so, thinking it somehow was in their interest) regarding the glaring differences
among various IE languages vis-à-vis grammar. Celtic, which shared agglutinative
features and syntax with Dravidian, was grandfathered as IE, but Dravidian was left
out; Celtic was indeed a pan-European language, as Dravidian was pan-Indian. Both
had agglutinating features and were well settled before the arrival of inflected SKT,
Latin, or Gothic, etc., both having provided significant loans to new arrivals.
Other superfamilies (Fig. II.1) are even smaller than Nostratic. Newer names
crowd the field now; “Afro Asiatic,” a new term which includes formerly Semitic and
north African (older Hamitic) languages is certainly more correct than racial terms. A
new and unique superfamily, “Euro-Asiatic,” also provides IE with its closest rela-
tives, such as Altaic, Uralic, Eskimo-Aleut, etc. (Fig. II.1).
With some determined coordination from geneticists, linguists, and archaelo-
gists, the IE family now does seem to have a meaningful time clock, starting from the
Middle East, reaching Turkey (7000–8000 years ago), Greece (5000–6000 years
ago), Germany/Poland (4000–5000 years), Portugal (4000 years), and England (5000
years). By tracking some 200 words in 63 IE languages, the study by Cavalli Sforza
reveals that the oldest IE, Albanian and Armenian, represent the first wave of
migrants from Turkey. Celtic, the earliest split, represents the oldest pan-European
language. A later split was the Italo-Germanic and the Balto-Slavic branches,
dividing later into sub branches. Roman and German tribes had interfaced with the
earlier waves of migration, Etruscan, Basque, and Celtic-speakers, and could not
completely absorb them, as in the case of SKT and Dravidian. Baltic and Slavic lan-
guage users interfaced with earlier settlers (Finnish-Uralic) in the east of Europe.
The varieties in IE grammar in Europe, the oldest being Celtic (agglutinative),
later Greek and Latin, with flexion, and Gothic with root flexion (like Arabic), are

47
apparently a reflection of the variety present in Mesopotamia/Syria/Turkey (~1800

BC) i.e., Mitanni, Hurrian, Hittite, Assyrian, etc. (Table 1.1).
Comparative linguistics, which was initially based on just a few dozen words
that led to the notion of the IE family, really is a very soft science. There is no corre-
lation with grammar, and modern rules for finding resemblance or cognate words
between different languages are dependent on “classical sound correspondence and
very strict phonological rules.”50 Applying these rules strictly now can make it
impossible to re-establish the “grand IE family”; IE’s birth was really a crude job,
perhaps because it was based on fictional romance rather than the academics of
grammar.
Keeping IE as it is, with known imperfections, modern linguists now classify
families based on a timeline and the dispersal of linguistic groups. The diagram (fig.
II.1), modified from Ruhlen and Cavalli Sforza’s book,51 reveals the African ancestor
creating an Asian progeny (70,000–50,000 years ago), which as one southeast Asia-
Pacific grand family divides up to produce the Austral and Austro-Asiatic group,
whose members gave rise to Austric-Munda, a linguistic/cultural group, as the
founding father of the Urdu/Hindi language and a significant portion of Indian
culture. This is dealt with in further detail in chapter IV. This group must have come a
few thousand years prior to the Neolithic Age and inaugurated rice farming in later
Indochina. From the other branch of Asians arose the Eurasian grand family, dividing
into two, a Dene-Caucasian (20,000–40,000 years ago), not shown in the chart, but
who are the defined ancestors of the Sino-Tibetan and Caucasian linguistic families,
and a larger group, the Eurasian-Americans, who about 20,000 years ago generated
the ancestor of Dravidian family as well as Afro-Asiatic, also called Semitic. Thus,
both the Dravidian family, which arose earlier, along with Semitic Arabic’s ancestor,
might have been the first farmers as stated earlier. In fact we do find some common
vocabulary between Arabic and Dravidian, which will be discussed later (chapter 17).
The Eurasian-American group also generated a common ancestor of Euro-Asiatic,
which fathered IE, Uralic, Altaic, and Eskimo Aleut (Alaskan). SKT- and Persian-
speaking groups, which we know as “Aryan,” represent a recent tertiary dispersal
during 1000–1500 BC The figure (II.1) also shows the Indian theater receiving its
oldest Austric-Munda during the pre-Neolithic period, followed by Dravidian
farmers, who created the first hybrid, which was layered later with SKT, Arabic, and
Persian.
2.9 ALL CONNECTED — ONE LANGUAGE
A glimpse of vocabulary from these global colonizers coming out of Africa is

now available. Merritt Ruhlen’s pioneering work52 connects all the linguistic families

48
through identification of cognates, and among them Urdu/Hindi and para-Urdu words
are clearly visible, though he has omitted the details.
Three popular words representing relationships: Mama (mother), Papa (father),
Kaka (elder brother or uncle, etc.) masquerade everywhere. Mama’s variations in
Urdu and its substrates show up as Amma, Ma, Ammi, Umm, etc.; Papa’s includes
Apa/Aba, noted in our discussion on phonetics, and Abu, Abba, Baba, etc. Kaka’s
variations are also numerous, with Aka/Akka apparently most common; and Aka->
aqa (Arabic) and aga/agha (Persian) are also used in Urdu.
A battery of 13 cognates besides the above ones links every superfamily. These
include pronouns (who/what), numbers (two and one), water, arm, knee, hair, vulva/
vagina, smell/nose, and verbs for squeeze, seize and fly. Latin’s aqwa (water) con-
nects the IE family with American-Indian, African, and others. The verb par (fly) is
special for Urdu as it comes via Dravidian and Persian (a mutual ancient loan). Dra-
vidian par means “get off, “be away,” etc.; as in Urdu, one may give a command,
parey hat (“take off!”). Persian provides numerous derivatives in Urdu/Hindi, i.e. par
(feather), parinda (bird family), parwana (insect fly), parwaz (flight), and phur
(flying sound) as in “phur-se urna.” Urdu’s pari and English ferry have this same
root. The other interesting word, “puti/pudi/puda” for female genitalia is now con-
sidered a profanity in Punjabi and Western Urdu/Hindi, but it generated a technical
word “pudenda” only in Latin and with a p/b change is found as buti/butu in the Afro-
Asiatic (Semitic) family, linking all cultures. Ruhlen further reveals that the pronouns
with [m] and [t] me/thee/ti etc. are widespread and not specific to IE, SKT, or Urdu/
Hindi. His work certainly provides a global perspective and discredits the religious,
divisive dogmas. Ruhlen and other linguists, however, ignore the shared vocabulary
and grammar of Mesopotamian fossils necessary to any legitimate classification, such
as the ones proposed in Chapter 17.
2.10 INDO-ARYAN OR INDIAN URDU/HINDI
Modern linguistic concepts and super families, though, are integrative but still
not free of myths and dogma. The classification of Urdu/Hindi as an IA dialect
(1905–1910) remains within the same Aryan model. Dr. Chatterji’s two books on
Bengali and Hindi and the current genetic history of English run on parallel tracks
linked to PIE/Aryan ideas, i.e., SKT deteriorated into PKT and German (Gothic) into
English with the loss of flexion. The history of English cannot be much revised, as
there is no linguistic material prior to Julius Caesar’s invasion (55 BC). So the set his-
torical pattern of old, middle, and modern English is maintained, and Celtic, the
major source of its vocabulary, is largely ignored as the starter. The history of English
starts with the invasion of Anglo-Saxon, German “Aryan” tribes in 4th century AD.
Chatterji, borrowing this idea, also starts with the Aryan invasion, calling it old IA
(SKT), which, according to him, created middle IA (MIA) from Buddha onwards,
meaning ancient PKT and MIA become the neo-IA or Urdu/Hindi after the arrival of
Muslims from the 10th century onward. And, imitating the West, he also ignores the
input of Dravidian and Austric.
49
This antiquated view certainly needs a change, as copious material in pre-

Aryan language is now available. The history of Urdu/Hindu in this book starts with
“proto-Urdu,” the earliest hybrid, generated with Dravidian’s arrival and their inter-
action with the oldest Austric-Munda people. This hybridization must have continued
for some 6000 years or so until the Aryans arrived (1000 BC) and interacted with
proto-Urdu, creating the next stage, “old Urdu/Hindi” (PKTs). Mixing with Arabic
and Persian after the 8th century AD, the old Urdu hybrid (PKTs) passed into Urdu/
Hindi stage as depicted in fig. II. 1. But the views which led to the origin of the term
IA for Hindi/Urdu dialects require a fresh look.
Our review here factors in the respective contributions of five main ingredients,
facts of grammar, and freedom from mythical belief. We start with what “dialect”
means. Webster’s Dictionary (1979, p. 502) defines the concept: “any language as
part of a larger group or family of languages, as English is a Germanic dialect.” That
may be true for English, for almost half of its vocabulary and most important
everyday-use verbs are “Germanic/Gothic,” e.g., come, go, give, find, fly, see, sing,
ride, swim, add, begin, bath, etc., besides the pronouns and auxiliary verbs, was, will,
etc. The grammar is somewhat similar, except that noun flexion is almost nonexistent
and verb flexion is minimal compared to German/Gothic.
Noun book, books
Verb go, goes, going, gone
give, gives, gave, given
Genders are three, as in German, and numbers are two. The syntax, SVO of
English, is seen in many IE languages but German syntax is unstable and variable.
English has borrowed significantly from many languages but mainly from Latin/
French and Greek. “Celtic” has fed virtually all of Europe’s languages, including
Latin, Gothic, etc., and the original starting source is difficult to establish. Thus, at
best, English can be traced cumulatively, starting with Pictic (pre-Celtic) to Celtic, to
Latin, to French, to German, to English. English is a typical hybrid and may be called
a German dialect because of the large shared vocabulary. The term dialect itself, at
best, is relative. English can be even called a Celtic dialect, as Celtic, being older and
fed Latin, French and German.
The same cannot be really presumed about Urdu/Hindi being a dialect of SKT,
which itself had borrowed from the same sources, Austric/Munda and Dravidian,
during the same phase of evolution. At the time of classification (1905–10), it may be
true that a bulk of Dravidian/Austric words were presumed as SKT.
Let us compare the grammar first. Urdu/Hindi is isolating or analytical in type,
a feature of Austric-Munda family, like Malaysian and others. It must use auxiliary
verbs (is, will, was), while SKT is mostly flexional in both verb and nouns. Some
minor verb flexion, as a natural evolution or influence, is seen in Urdu, which bor-
rowed some SKT verbs but used them according to its own grammar. For example, a
presumed SKT verb dadami (I give) has dozens of conjugated forms to express
gender, tense, and number in SKT. Urdu has replaced the internal vowel “a” by “e” to
use it in 5 inflected forms as follows — but with mandatory use of the pronoun and
auxiliary verb, due to Urdu’s nature as isolating:
50
Table II.2 Common Urdu/Hindi Verbs and Their Source
English English
Verbs Source Verbs Source
Meaning Meaning
ana coming DR katna Cutting DR
jana going DR bolna speaking DR
calna walking DR kahna Saying Munda
bhagna running DR puchna Asking DR
karna doing DR sona sleeping SKT
parhna reading DR rona Crying SKT
likhna writing SKT jorna Adding Munda
dekhna seeing SKT ghatana substracting Munda
khana eating DR girna Falling Munda
peena drinking DR torna breaking DR
jalana burning Munda larna quarelling DR
banana making Arab rokna stopping SKT
lagana attaching Munda
Urdu/Hindi
Deta + aux (he gives)

Detey + aux (they give)
Deti + aux (she gives)
Detein + aux (feminine pl. they give)
Diya + aux (gave – all numbers and gender)
SKT follows its own grammar/phonetic system. For example, “he gives” or
“voh deta hai,” of Urdu, in SKT is the equivalent of just one word — dadati — a
word that is meaningless in Urdu. SKT flexion did not degenerate here; Urdu/Hindi,
due to its nature, treats all other loans, i.e., from Persian and Arabic, in the same way,
as we’ll see in detail subsequently. This is an agglutinating feature from DR; the root
verb “dena,” incidentally, is rooted in West Asia and is not a SKT root.
SKT has three numbers: singular, plural, and dual, similar to Arabic. Urdu has
just the singular and plural; it never had dual, nor does it now. Similarly, SKT has
three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter, while Urdu has only two. Urdu
syntax is SOV type (Dravidian), while SKT is SVO, like English, Arabic, and
Persian. There is almost no resemblance in the grammar of the two languages. To say
that Urdu/Hindi started as SKT with “high grammar” and degenerated so that SKT is
now Hindi/Urdu is simply illegitimate; it is pure mythology and flies in the face of
the evidence showing the roles of pre-Aryan languages and the concept of “cumu-
51
lative evolution.” Beyond this, SKT has made a modest contribution in vocabulary
(about 10%); virtually all affixes, auxiliary verbs, and most pronouns are pre-Aryan
and the process of making adjectives and plural is mainly Persian driven. (These will
be discussed in detail with examples, later on.) Urdu/Hindi, thus, cannot be defined as
a dialect of SKT as defined in Webster.
Let us look at the prevalence of SKT roots among common Urdu/Hindi verbs.
A random sample of 25 common verbs (Table II–3) reveals that SKT makes up just
about 20%. An overwhelming majority (76%) are pre-Aryan, with the largest number
(52%) from Dravidian, followed by Munda (24%).
As a matter of fact, many non SKT verbs were lumped into SKT during the
19th century when IA classification was finalized. But even as late as the 1960s and
70s, linguists had remained mute on this issue. Dr S. K. Chatterji maintained the IA
model, since Indian linguists usually do not challenge SKT’s status because of their
own taboos, religious beliefs, and academic coercion. SKT’s larger role in literature
and the sciences and Urdu’s inspiration from these are well known, but this is an
entirely different matter of literature, and not linguistics.
Let us take a different approach. We can analzye the words in two literary
pieces, one by a modern Hindi poet, Mr. Bajpai, a former Indian prime minister,53
and another from a famous poem by Sir Iqbal, an Urdu poet of the 20th century, for
various substrates, SKT (s), Dravidian (d), Munda (m), Persian (p), and Arabic (a).
Bajpai’s piece is given first, along with its translation:
Bey (p) naqab (a) chehrey (p) hain (m), dagh (p) barey (d) ghehrey (m) hain (m),
tutta (d) tilism (a) aj (s) sac (s) se (d) bhai (s) khata (d) hon (m), lagi (m) kuc (d)
aisi (d) nazar (a) bikhra (m) seesay (p) ka (d) shaher (p), apnon (s) kay (d) melay
(s) mein (d) meet (s) nahein (s) pata (s) hon (m)
[Translation: Unmasked faces are there, wounds are really deep, magic is out,
today I am afraid of truth, the evil eye got it in the way, and shattered the city of
glass, among our own people I do not see a friend.]
Iqbal’s:
Sarey (s) jahan (p) se (d) accha (d) Hindustan (p) hamara (d), hum (d) bulbulain (p)
hain (m) uski (d) voh (d) gulsitan (p) hamara (d). mazhab (a) nahein (s) sikhata (s)
apas (p) mein (d) bair (s) rakhna (s), Hindi (p) hain (m) hum (d) vatan (a) hai (m)
Hindustan (p) hamara (d)
[Translation: In the entire world, our India is best. We are the nightingale of this
garden. Religion does not teach mutual enmity, Indians, we are of our country
India.]
The mix of SKT, 25% and 18%, is about the same, but the highest contribution
is from Dravidian, 33% and 38%, followed by Persian-Arabic, 25% and 32%, and
Munda, 10%. This is representative of literary material, which may contain a higher
53. A. B. Bajpai (1997), p. 146.
52
percentage of SKT words than street language. A revision of the concept of the
“genetic relationship” between SKT and Urdu/Hindi is obviously necessary and
overdue.
2.11 URDU/HINDI AND THE IE TIMELINE/GLOTTOCHROLOGY
The evolution of other IA dialects, Punjabi, Gujarati, etc., had run on essen-
tially a similar track. They have a substantially similar grammar, syntax, and word
mix, but different orthography. Kashmiri, though, has retained the SVO syntax of the
Munda family. How long ago these dialects might have diverged from each other is
anyone’s guess, because there are so few written records prior to the Common Era.
But IE linguists, much more indulgent than Indians, have devised a method to
measure the time distances between their own dialects, because they too lacked
records. Fortunately, they have included all IE dialects, some 63 of them, including
Urdu/Hindi and others. Developed by American linguists and analyzed by Dr. Sforza,
the method tracked about 200 words common to 63 languages/dialects by a comput-
erized process which provides a possible time of separation from a “common”
ancestor/source, along with an estimate of the reliability of that calculation. From this
rather complicated and busy diagram have emerged some interesting observations,
which incidentally coincide fairly closely with a historical timeline. Some extracts are
as follows:
Urdu/Hindi and Punjabi
• Essentially were one language about 500–600 years ago (AD 1400–1500)
(high reliability, 95%).
Urdu/Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and Bengali
• The group originated 1800 years ago from a common source (AD 200)
(100% reliability); the thesis of Bengali’s separation from Hindi in AD 700–800
is only 40% reliable, but Gujarati’s separation (AD 900–1000) from Marathi is
76% reliable.
Kashmiri, Urdu/Hindi, and Others
• Had a common ancestral source 2500 years ago (500 BC) (calculation is
100% reliable). This was around Buddha’s time.
Persian and IA (Urdu/Hindi etc)
• Persian and its dialects and IA dialects (not SKT) had a common source
6500 years ago (44% reliability).
53
German/English, Persian, IA dialects
• The common IE ancestor of Latin, Greek, and parents of Persian and IA

dialects separated from each other 7500 years ago (5500 BC); 29% reliable.
A reliability of <95% is usually not taken as scientifically valid, so a 29 % reli-
ability means that a connection between English, Persian, and Urdu/Hindi is probably
not significant. But the method of glottochrology itself is considered unreliable.54 It
assumes that the rate of decay of a word in its meaning and form is constant over
time. The theory that 20% of words are lost from two sister dialects in 1,000 years has
no scientific basis. It is more a theoretical exercise than its author had intended.
Another word of caution: the method does not prove or disprove that Urdu/
Hindi is a member of the IE family. That is not its purpose at all; it only tracks the
paired words presumed to be related to IE.
54. Sforza Luigi Luca Cavalli (2000), p. 138.
54
2.12 PROMOTION OF INDO-EUROPEANIST VIEWS
It is not publicized that the so-called “genetics” of English and Urdu are both
dependent on an agglutinative type ancient language, Celtic in the one case and Dra-
vidian in the other. Both were built upon a Paleolithic base, a pre-Celtic and perhaps
Paleolithic tongue. The Pictic of England is not well known, but “Austric-Munda” of
India is well defined. The standard history of both, however, starts with flexion-
ridden German and SKT. English history even ignores the fact that Celtic had main-
tained its language type in spite of Roman domination for 400 years before Anglo-
Saxons displaced the populace to Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, and also absorbed
their vocabulary and grammar. Historians of Urdu/Hindi, too, ignore the pre-Aryan
(SKT) phase when Dravidian and Munda speakers were also displaced and/or
absorbed.
As we move to unveil man’s oldest specimens of languages in the next
chapters, readers must remember some facts which historical linguists do not pub-
licize. These are (1) the oldest (pre-Gothic, pre-Roman, pre-Greek) languages of
Europe were really agglutinative, similar to Uralic-Altaic, i.e., Turkish, Dravidian,
Finnish, Hungarian, Armenian, and Celtic; (2) IE speakers came out of the Middle
East, as is now generally accepted; (3) Sumeria/Iraq is the linguistic cradle of civili-
zation, with India, Egypt, and Greece its extensions.
Though all these items are well known for 100 years or more, most ethno-
centric historians remain silent. H. G. Wells,55 as recently as 1971, records: “It is
improbable that there was ever such a thing as a common human language.” Charac-
terizing the Aryan or IE family, he writes, “the family is united by the same funda-
mental root and grammar,” a clear misrepresentation of facts as discussed in context
with IE Celtic, an agglutinative tongue entirely different from SKT, Gothic, and
Latin. Writing about Celtic in a different context, he contradicts himself by con-
fessing that Celtic has Berber/Iberian grammar.56 Talking about IE, he again says,
“original Aryan language was a spoken speech,” perhaps 5000–6000 years ago, an
untruth which was never even claimed by any German linguist. IE/Aryanists in
general romanticize Cyrus and Alexander for Aryan valor, and Buddha for wisdom.
H. G. Wells even misrepresents and glorifies the Persian language, as follows57:
“Aryan tribes appear in the place of Elamites and the [Aryan] Persian language dom-
inates the empire until Aryan Greek ousts it from official life.” Many such historians
who appear more loyal than the kings, Cyrus, Asoka, and Alexander, help to per-
petuate the racial/mythical concept in academic linguistics. The fact is that Elamite
and Aramaic were adopted by Cyrus and were never replaced by Persian, an obscure
tongue which only rose to prominence in the post-Grecian phase or pre-Islamic Ses-
sanid era.
55. H. G. Wells (1971), pp. 124–133.

56. H. G. Wells (1971), p. 231.
57. H. G. Wells (1971), p. 143.
55
Indian historians understandably downplay this so as not to undermine reli-

gious nationalism bound up with SKT. Prof. Chatterji recognizes the pre-Aryan DR
and Austric Munda elements in his book and also the oldest elements of SKT in
Syria/Turkey, but remains focused on Vedic SKT as the initiator of linguistic history,
and links Bengali and Urdu/Hindi to PIE via SKT. He who had helped in establishing
the departments of linguistics at Indian universities even tried to stifle research
against the established classification, saying:58 “An account of origin of NIA (Urdu/
Hindi, Bengali, etc.) languages must necessarily be based on the fact and hypothesis
established by Grierson and others.” Recent scholars seem to stay within defined
parameters, and almost nothing is published from India against the established
genetic links of SKT and NIA. Grierson, who had classified Urdu/Hindi as SKT’s
dialect (1910), also wrote the preface in Dr. Chatterji’s book/thesis,59 and it was
accepted for his doctorate at the University of London.
In another meaningful statement in regard to phonetics, Chatterji attempts to
play to the religious gallery as follows: “The oldest IA, or SKT, sound system may be
said to be represented by that of Vedic speech.” By the use of “may be,” he remains
connected with academic linguists who believe in the evolution of phonemes and the
faithful belief in the revelation of SKT.
In the USA, too, Indian linguists tend to defend the SKT-NIA genetics. The
“state of the art” in linguistics thus has remained at a 19th-century level in India. In
the West, the term “Aryan” for the IE family has been given up and is now reserved
for the Indian branch, “IA.” Mesopotamian discoveries as well as breakthroughs in
evolution and genetics research seem to have impacted the West.
2.13 URDU/HINDI–DNA SCHEME
As we begin to discuss the ancient elements that created modern hybrids —

DR, SKT, Persian, and Arabic — in the next chapter and the contribution of the latter
four in the evolving Urdu/Hindi in chapters IV–VI, it is important to recognize here a
sixth element in Urdu’s vocabulary, an extinct pre-Aryan source, designated “Lexi”-
Lingua Extinctorum Indica. These six elements, Austric-Munda, DR, SKT, Arabic,
Persian, and LEXI, neatly fit into a DNA-type diagram (fig. II–2), the long, coiled,
double helix being representative of Munda and DR, because they make up Urdu’s
grammar and syntax system, along with about 60% of its basic vocabulary, the four
cross bases being rungs of a ladder representing SKT, Persian, Arabic, and LEXI,
which make up the rest (about 40%) of vocabulary, including a sprinkling from
Turkish and even Chinese.
58. S. K. Chatterji (1972), p. 240.

59. S. K. Chatterji, p. 22.
56
The chapter documents the link between Urdu/Hindi and other languages to a
common African language through a basic understanding of genetics, phonetics,
sound shifts, and human migration out of Africa. It also unveils the linguistic
mythology of HEB/SKT/IE-Aryanism and reviews the evolution of phonemes,
grammar flexion, and syntax of Urdu/Hindi and its original ingredients, Semitic, Dra-
vidian, and IE. The chapter alludes to the West Asian cradle of civilization as the
ancestral source of the IE language, besides Semitic and Dravidian. Above all, it
shows that the classification of Urdu/Hindi as a dialect of SKT was based on myth,
rather than academic evidence, by revealing the major differences in the grammar of
Urdu/Hindi and SKT.
57
CHAPTER III. MIDDLE EAST: SOURCE OF SEMITIC, DRAVID-
IAN AND INDO-EUROPEAN/SANSKRIT
3.0 INTRODUCTION
As we begin to unveil the roots of four elements, DR, SKT, Persian, and
Arabic, of Urdu’s schematic “DNA,” rooted in the extended theater wherein Meso-
potamian culture and language prevailed (Table I–1), there seems to be some scanty
evidence for even the oldest, the Austric-Munda family, the fifth element also in
Mesopotamia. These folks, perhaps belonging to the pre-Neolithic phase, or a very
early Neolithic culture, had already passed through Mesopotamia into India and
beyond, to the Pacific Islands and China, when Sumerians began recording their
history.
Their speech must have been at least one stage younger than the monosyllabic
agglutinative type, namely, the isolating type currently featured in Tibet-Chinese and
Austric-Munda, but this cannot be readily ascertained. It is a strong possibility,
though, since Austric-Munda is now considered a potential source for retroflexed
phonemes, hard t, d, etc., in Dravidian and SKT. There is also some linguistic evi-
dence in Sumeria. The Sumerian words gar (house), bahar (outside), maha (great),
the pronoun mein (I), and nasal consonants may be their legacy. The hard t, d,
perhaps, did not survive locally. It may be that the t, d, phonemes in English also rep-
resent an early acquisition; this is impossible to confirm.
3.1 WEST ASIAN THEATER (SUMERIANS)
It is in Sumeria or Mesopotamia that Urdu very clearly can trace some of its
basic vocabulary in continuity over some six thousand years. As mentioned earlier,
Sumerian city states are traceable in succession through the Akkadian, Babylonian,
and Assyrian until Achemenian/Persian. Well known as the cradle of civilization, it
had created its final linguistic product, Arabic, as a significant ingredient of Urdu/
Hindi; and before the civilization disappeared, Sumerian linguistics had already
59
become a part of its contemporaries and later successors: Greek, Persian, Indian and
other civilizations.
Sumerians made major steps forward in all aspects of human culture; history
begins in Sumeria. William Durant60 credits Sumeria for the advent of coinage, the
letter of credit, several crafts and industries, law and government, mathematics, med-
icine, enemas and drainage systems, geometry and astrology, the calendar, the clock,
and zodiac signs, the alphabet and writing books, libraries, schools, literature and
music, glazed pottery and finished furniture, monotheism and monogamy, cosmetics
and jewelry, checkers and dice, income tax and beer. To this, one can easily add poly-
theism, parenthood, priesthood, prostitution, and pornography. There is a broad con-
sensus on the fundamental value of the Sumerians, whose civilization finally led to
the advanced forms in Europe and the USA.
It all began about 6000 years ago in Mesopotamia when some people who
styled themselves as Sumerian began recording their history on baked clay tablets in
cuneiform (meaning “wedged shape”) script (Table 16.1), after founding the first city
state based on farming. Their language was of the agglutinative type, similar to their
contemporary eastern neighbor/adversary the Elamites. A few centuries later, they
were invaded by nomadic people from the northwestern desert, the “Akkadians”
(Akka or Agga, in Sumerian, means big brother, chief or boss), speakers of a different
type of language, inflected, now called Semitic. This led to the formation of a
bilingual state. This was followed by successive invasions from the west by the
Amorites or Babylonians, Araemians and Assyrians, creating a cumulative lan-
guage(s), with Sumerian assuming a classical status for temple rites and continued for
many centuries. This greatest-ever bilingual enterprise created the famous cites of
Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, and Nineveh, and influenced peripheral neighbors
in war and peace. Great kings Sargon I (2600 BC), Nebuchadnezzar, Hamurabi (1800
BC, famous for his law codes), Assurbanipal (750 BC, famous for his library), con-
trolled the largest of empires; these are just a few names in long dynasties which
created Babylon and the tower of Babel, etc.
Sumerians recorded their own epical history going back to 432,000 years
before the flood.61 Archaeologists have identified them as a mixture of Mediter-
ranean and Armenoid type of people.62 Race-conscious pro-Semitic and pro-Aryan
scholars have attempted to find affinity with them, but Sumerian transcends all, with
no recorded direct heir. There is the story of a flood and other stories resembling
those of Noah, Job, Joseph, Krishna, etc., in entirely different contexts, but without
the names of these mythical personalities. A massive literature now exists to refute
and/or reconcile these myths, but this is beside the point. The contemporary history
however does record interaction with other neighbors, Arrata, Guttians, Kassites,
Hittite, etc., who invaded, ruled, and then disappeared in the melting pot. The
Elamite, Hittite and Egyptians did maintain some identity, especially in languages.
The historic events played out in Greater Mesopotamia, inclusive of Indus Valley-
60. William Durant (1963) Vol. I, p.116.

61. William Durant (1950), pp. 118–120.
62. George Roux (1982), p. 87.
60
Chapter III. Middle East: Source of Semitic, Dravidian and Indo-European/Sanskrit
Harrapa (Pakistan), Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, were interactively polyglot until
Achemenian (6th century BC) and even Alexander’s time (3rd century BC).
In this polyglot world, there was always one leading language, or lingua franca.
The first one was Sumerian, followed by Akkadian/Babylonian/Assyrian and
Aramaic, all “Semitic” type, the last one having being adopted by the Persian Empire
and also by King Asoka for local use. A brief glimpse of their religion, culture, lan-
guage/literature, etc. reveals a direct link with the poetry, satire, epics, animal stories,
and fiction of not only Urdu/Hindi/SKT/Arabic literature but most other languages/
cultures.
3.1.1 Sumerian Religion and Culture
The Sumerians were a religious people, and they worshiped all kinds of gods
and godesses as represented in the sun, moon, wind, trees, serpents, rivers, wisdom,
fertility, bulls and cows, and also identified a super god, a God of Gods, and had a
well-established temple-priest system63 which expressed itself in the Greco-Roman
Egyptian pantheon and survives in the Indian system. One even finds a conical
upright stone, a fertility symbol,64 worshiped by ancient Jews as Baal (Lord) and
perhaps continues as Shiva Lingam in India. One finds stories of creation from pri-
meval ocean and clay of man, whom god (s) created to serve them, a central theme of
modern religion. Society seems well stratified with kings (related to sun, etc.),
bureaucrats, priests endowed with temples, and commoners, farmers and slaves.
Hamurabi’s stele (now in a Paris museum) reveals a code of laws and ethics resem-
bling the Mosaic Ten Commandments, in addition to the regulation of medical
practice. There is the idea of the soul, the afterlife, and the concept of dead relatives
having supernatural powers, i.e., spirits and ghosts capable of harming the living.
Several authors, such as George Roux, Samuel Kramer, and William Durant,
have described this fully developed civilization; they were perhaps more advanced
than we are — they had a clear fee structure for medical treatments — as well as
having higher mathematics including the square root and cube root, algebra, the
decimal system and an occasional logarithm.65
In reckoning they followed a sexagesimal system consisting of units of 1–10,
10–60 and multiples of 6, e.g., 60, 600, 3600; they wrote 100 as 1.40 (1 unit=60).
The rulers were concerned for the common man; one discovers from
Hamurabi’s codes an evidence of the “mission” of a ruler.
3.1.2 Sumerian Lingustics
Sumeria had 15 phonemes66 or consonants as placed on the following phonetic

grid simplified from Table II–1. They had no [c] nor [j] and used ch instead, but had a
nasal g [ng] and had fricates sh and z and both nasals, n and m, and liquids, r and l.
63. William Durant Vol. I, pp. 127–130.

64. Ibid. p. 309
65. George Roux (1982), pp. 334–335.
66. Samuel M. Kramer (1971), pp. 306–307.
61
They used five vowels a, e, i, o, u, perhaps short and long. Words were mostly mono-
syllabic, cv, vc, or cvc types like bi (house), gu (cow), rab (chief), etc., but there is
also evidence of polysyllabic words.67 Being of agglutinating type, like Dravidian,
they used suffixes to create words. These suffixes really resemble modern-day Dra-
vidian and Urdu/Hindi words. For example, in Sumerian, Din (law) > Dinu (judge),
seem to presage the pattern that gives Urdu Nehr (river) > Nehru, kala (black) > kalu,
Ram > Ramu, etc. They passed on this trend and this type of vowel endings into
Akkadian/Assyrian (Table III.4), and it is also noted in many IE.
-v +v +v +v -v
Gutturals k g ng - -
Palatals ch - - - -
Cerebrals - - - r s/h
Dental t d n l s/z
Labials p b m - -
Gender was absent in Sumerian, but they used the suffixes nita for boy and
munus for girl; thus Dumo (child) became Dumo-nita (a boy) and Dumo-munus (a
girl). Another suffix, ne, made a plural, i.e., Ama (mother) > ama-ne (mothers). Sum-
erian syntax is also Urdu/Dravidian SOV type. The Sumerian language remained
active up to about 1000 BC and slowly was absorbed mainly into Semitic and
Elamitic languages and their successors, and also other languages. An ancient Greek
tablet (1 BC–AD 1) also reveals that connection.
3.1.3 Sumerian Vocabulary in Urdu/Hindi
Sumerian words have found their way into Urdu both through its Elamite Dra-
vidian neighbor, its Arabic successor, and its IE Hittite neighbor/successor, especially
Greek and Latin, SKT, Persian, etc. The list (Table III–1) includes the oldest words
for mother, Amma or Umm, father abba or appa, distributed all over in their varia-
tions. The same is true for the pronoun mae for I/me and nu, for no/not and gu/gud for
cow or gau; gau or cow has enormous scope in Urdu/Hindi culture; in India, there are
numerous name derivatives: Gopal, Gopalan, Govinda; place names Gorakhpur,
Gopalgunj and even a whole British regiment, the Gorakha (meaning cow keeper), is
named using this Sumerian root. Lord Krishna, a Hindu prophet, bears the title Gopal.
The Sumerian root “Kar,” as a verb, is found in Persian and Urdu as Karna (to
do) and the verb pad or pad/phad and tar or tor, meaning to tear and break, are shared
words in Urdu. Others such as gar or ghar (house), bar or bahar (outside), rab
(chief), Sir or sha-er (poet), shaqi (cup bearer) are common ones; ab (water) of
Persian/Urdu is also part of Vedic SKT. In addition there are some pronouns, i.e., he/
she Be, Bne, ne (this); the word ku (eat) with vowel change and addition of liquid r
and l is everywhere, kul or akaul in Arabic, kur, kurdan or khurdan in Persian, and ka,
kha, khana in Urdu/Hindi through Dravidian (Table IV.2); the word ku-ra changed to
khurak (diet) in Persian and Urdu. An intriguing word mah (presumed SKT, meaning
67. Edgard Do in Jack M. Sasson Vol. IV, pp. 2107–2119.
62
great or mighty), is perhaps a legacy of Austric-Munda people who passed through

West Asia in pre-Sumerian times; the word is found all over the Austric-speaking
area. Sumerians used this as a suffix. For example, nin (lady) becomes nin mah (great
lady). In SKT and Urdu/Hindi, it has wide usage as prefix, i.e., mahajan (great man),
Mahanagar (great city), mahavir (great hero), and matunga (great tusk bearer) means
elephant. The names of the Sumerians’ numbers were also absorbed by the Semitic
language and a few others. Sumerian root words will be revisited in the proposed
reclassification (Chapter 17).
Table III.1
Some Sumerian Words in Urdu/Hindi and Other Languages
Sumerian Meaning Form, Meaning in Urdu and Others
1. abba old man, elder Father, in URD, HIN, AR
2. adda father Father (sometimes) in URD, HIN
3. amma mother Mother, in AR, URD, DR, HIN
4. a, ab water PER, SKT, URD
5. ab cow “av” in DR
6. bar outside bahir in PER, URD, HIN
7. bar-uru open country bahir in PER, URD, HIN
8. bahar potter in AR
9. e-ne he/she ene (him/them) URD, HIN
10. gar to place, a field ghar <house> in AM, URD, HIN
11. gud ox
12. gu cow gaey- in URD, and others
13. gu-gal pea gu-dana<peas> in PER
14. kar run away, carry off kardan<do>in PER, karna - URD, HIN, DR, SKT
15. ku to eat Khurdan (eat) in PER
16. ku-ra food khurak (food) in PER, URD
17. mae I or me mein (I or me) in AM, URD, HIN
18. mah great, mighty mah, maha (great) AM, SKT, URD
19. nagar carpenter najjar in AR
20. ne this demonstrative in URD, HIN, AM
21. pad break in pieces as pad, pat in DR, AM, URD, HIN
22. sag slave sag (dog) in PER
23. sig wool suf in AR and suk in AM
24. se barley AR
25. shaqe cup bearer AR, URD
63
26. sir poet sha er in URD, AR
27. tar to cut, to break in DR and URD as tor - tar
28. uru country ur - village in DR
URD - urdu, HIN-hindi, AR-arabic, AM-austric-minda, DR-dravidian, PER-persian
3.1.4 Sumerian Literature
The Sumerians left all kinds of literature, religious, secular, poetry, satire,
hymns, epic eulogies or marsias, besides their own recorded history. Secular liter-
ature, stories, and dialogues reveal that many of the ideas reappeared later in all the
major languages, Greek, SKT, PKT, Latin, etc.
The epic of Gilgamesh is the most celebrated. The hero Gilgamesh represents a
legendary ruler of the city state Uruk, or Erech, and is a descendant of the Sumerian’s
“Noah,” Shamash-Naphistin,68 survivor of the great flood. The story, like other epics
such as the Greek Iliad and Indian Mahabharata, consists of loosely connected events
ending in moral outcomes. Gilgamesh, similar to Samson of the Old Testament, is a
tall and handsome hero, who is part divine, part human, privy to secrets and wisdom,
and a womanizer who spares neither married women nor virgins. His godmother, to
control his licentious behavior, creates a male companion, Enkidu, who lives alone in
the wild forest among animals, having their attributes of physical power and speed, a
prototypical modern Tarzan. Gilgamesh drafts a hunter and a temple priestess, who,
through her sexual advances, traps Enkidu for Gilgamesh, who subsequently with this
new companion fights a victorious war against the traditional enemy, Elam. But the
hunter had to tutor the priestess on how to capture Enkidu. His instructions and their
execution by the woman are captured by the writer (s) in this rather explicit poem:
There he is, woman!
Loosen thy buckle,
Unveil thy delight.
When he sees thee, he will draw near,
Open thy robe that he rest upon thee.
She opened her robe that he rest upon her,
She aroused in him rapture, the work of woman,
His bosom pressed against her
Enkidu forgot where he was born.
On his return from victory over Elam, the goddess of love, Ishtar (Venus), pro-
poses to marry Gilgamesh, who reminds her of her infidelity and refuses. Angry
Ishtar, unable to succeed in killing Gilgamesh, takes revenge by striking a mortal
curse on his friend, Enkidu. The hero’s bereavement, recorded as follows, represents
the earliest remaining example of a eulogy or poem of lamentation (called Marsias69
in Urdu):
68. William Durant, Vol. I, pp. 250–252.

69. George Roux (1982), pp. 120–121.
64
Fearing death I roam over the steppe;

The matter of my friend rests heavy upon me.
How can I be silent? How can I be still?
My friend, whom I loved, has turned to clay,
Must I, too, like him, lay me down
Not to rise again for ever and ever?
The fear of death takes Gilgamesh in search of immortality, to obtain a certain

type of seaweed, after going through the ordeals of traversing difficult terrain, rugged
mountains, and getting past sea goddesses, giants, etc. The hero falls asleep after the
tiresome job and awakes only to find a serpent swallowing the weed. Extremely dis-
appointed, Gilgamesh receives a philosophical discourse from Shamash-Napistim, in
the following poem, focused on the philosophy of life:
Do we build houses forever?

Does the river forever rise up and bring on floods?
The dragon-fly leaves its shell
That its face might but glance at the face of the sun.
Since the days of yore there has been no permanence;
The resting and the dead, how alike they are!
Incidentally, Sumerians were really savvy. Their names had meaning or sense,
for example Engidu’s three syllables consisting of En (sky god), Gi (earth goddess),
and Du, a suffix from Dumo (child) makes him a child of sky and earth. The word Gi
apparently became Gea in Greek.
Sumerian literature, besides the above epic, includes varieties such as a
farmers’ Almanac related to farming and animal fables,70 dialogues between animal
and human, disputes between fox and wolf, hound and lion, heron and turtle and even
between two trees.71 Sumerians thus created the earliest infrastructure or prototypes
for the well-known Aesop’s fable72 or Bidpai fable of India (chapter 5). Other types
of disputes, according to Kramer, include those between summer and winter, cattle
and grain, bird and fish, and silver and copper.
Sumerian literature is quite rich in other areas, such as love poems, satire,
humor, and riddles. From a long poetic address of a bride to a bridegroom, a few lines
are excerpted:73
Bridegroom, dear to my heart
Goodly is your beauty, honey sweet
Lion, dear to my heart
Goodly is your beauty, honey sweet.
Bridegroom, let me caress you
70. Wolfram von Soden (1994), p. 222.

71. Samuel Kramer (1971), pp. 218–226.
72. Ibid. pp. 3–31.
73. Ibid. p. 254.
65
In the bed chamber, honey filled

Let me enjoy your goodly beauty
Lion, let me caress you.
Satirical humor and proverbs from Sumeria reveal a rich human scene with a
value system not much different from today’s. Some examples from Kramer are
really delightful!
He who has much silver may be happy,

He who has much grain may be glad
But he who has nothing can sleep.
The traveler from distant places is a perennial liar.
Possessions are sparrows in flight,
Which can find no place to alight.
A sweet word is everybody’s friend.
The desert canteen is a man’s life;
The shoe is a man’s eye,
The wife is a man’s future,
The son is a man’s refuge,
The daughter is a man’s salvation,
The daughter-in-law is a man’s devil.
These come from remotest antiquity; they were written a few thousand years
prior to the earliest glimpses of Greek, Sanskrit, Arabic and Hebrew literature. Sum-
erian literature and science influenced their contemporary rivals, the Elamites, Hit-
tites, etc., and also their trading partner friends, the Meluha and Dilmun, country/
culture who are mentioned in numerous tablets covering several generations, and in
the epics as well. Available evidence cited by Kramer indicates Meluha to be an
Indus-Valley-Harrapa culture or Urdu’s home theater in ancient India.74 An Assyrian
king, Tukulti-Ninurta, had called himself King of Dilmun (Bahrain) and Meluha
(India) in 7th century BC (impossible to confirm, as Indian writing started in around
280 BC).
Sumerian cuneiform script, which became an international script, was a revolu-
tionary contribution to civilization. It was syllabic in form and was replaced by an
alphabetic form after a few thousand years. The discovery of Sumerian writings,
understandably, was revolutionary, and overturned many myths in the 19th century.
3.2 THE ELAMITES AND PROTO-ELAMO-DRAVIDIAN (PED)
The Sumerians’ contemporaries, the Elamites, were Urdu’s other ancient

resource. This group, termed proto-Elamo-Dravidian speakers by Dravidian linguist
David McAlpine, were farmers in Elam-Iran Caspian area prior to the 5th century BC.
74. Samuel Kramer, pp. 281-284.
66
Their common language separated into Elamite or proto-Elamite and proto-Dravidian

about 6000–7000 years ago,75 about the time of the advent of farming in Mehrgarh
(Pakistan) in the Indian subcontinent. The origin of the Elamites remains clouded in
legend and mystery. On the record they go back to Sumerian time (about 3500 BC);
beyond this, we have only guesswork — as with their neighbors, the Sumerians,
whom most historians now believe to have come from the northeast, thus linking both
to a potential common ancestor (s). From strictly linguistic perspectives, around 5000
years BC one can only think of four language groups: (1) Sumerian or a possible
proto Sumerian; (2) PED; (3) a Caucasian group ancestor of the Georgian Chechens;
and (4) a Turkish-Hungarian-Altaic group, all largely monosyllabic and agglutinative
types. That they originated from a common ancestor, i.e., a heliolithic peoples or Aus-
trics in the eastern Mediterranean, remains a disinct probability. Mythically, the
Elamites were descended from Elam, son of Shem, son of Noah (Genesis 10:22), and
were of Semitic stock, if there was such a thing. Whatever their origin and their lan-
guage, they remained in the closest intercourse with the languages of their neighbors,
Akkadian, Assyrian, etc., and shared their cuneiform scripts, religious ideas, history
and culture.
Table III.2
Proto Elamo-Dravidian (Ped), Proto Dravidian And Dravidian Words
PED Elamite Proto-Drav Dravidian (Ded #) Urdu/Hindi
1. * cel (go away) zile (go away) * cel (to go) cel (ta) (to go) (2781) chal (walk)
2. * cina (small) zinna (small) * cinna (small) cinna (ta) (small) (2594) chinna (little)
3. * hat (destroy) hatta (destroy) * at (beat) attu (ta) (overcome) (347) hatana (eliminate)
4. * kat (bed) kat (bed) * kattil (cot) kattil (bed) (1145) khatia (cot)
* parra-ay
5. * peta (speak) pera (read) parai (ta) (read) (4031) parhna (learn)
(speak)
6. * peta (strike) bet (battle) * pet (strike) pettu (te) (beat) (4380) peetna (beat up)
7. * pot (young lamb) putu (lamb) * pot (young) poda (kui) (child) (4587) parttha (child)
8. * tuk (push) tukki (push, engrave) * tukh (push) tukkha (kur) (push) (3286) tokhna (strike)
9. * vit (leave) mete (separate) * vit (to leave) bidu (ka) (separate) (5393) bida (let go)
cokkam (ta) (excellent)
10. * zuka (excellent) Zukka (pure) chokha (pure)
(2829)
* reconstrunctions, DED – Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, ta – Tamil, te – Telugu, kur – Kurux, ka – Kanada.
Elam historically had remained autonomous, but as a vassal state of Mesopot-

amian monarchs, Sargon, Hamurabi, Asurbanipal, etc., but for a significant period it
was under Kassite domination (after Hamurabi, around 1700 BC). The Kassites, who
came from the Zygros mountains in the north, spoke an agglutinative tongue and
perhaps were the Elamites’ distant cousins,76 but they worshiped vedic Indo-Aryan
75. David W. McAlpine, p.134.

76. George Roux (1982), p. 227.
67
Gods, i.e. Suryash (Sun) and Marut (wind) gods. In 1300 BC, Elam emerged as a
great power and under their kings Shutruk-Nahhunte and Kutir-Nahhunte77 they cap-
tured Babylon, brought in stele bearing Hamurabi’s code, and dominated Mesopot-
amian politics for few generations until the time of Nebuchadnezzar I (1124-1103
BC), when they lost their independence. Asurbanipal, in 640 BC, integrated Elam as
a province, which subsequently came under the tolerant rule of Achemenian kings.
The Elamites’ skilled bureaucracy helped to govern the large Persian Empire.
Elam’s political system is uniquely famous for its matrilineal succession and extreme
respect for women. A new ruler had to be the son of a sister or even daughter (rarely)
of the royal house, incest being the norm (it is, after all, the only way to keep the
power “in the family”).
Elamites worshiped their own god and goddesses, Inshushinak Lord of Susa
being the principal deity. A prominent fertility goddess named Kiririsha or Kirir-
ishna,78 giver of life, health, death, and disease, was also extremely popular. She is
depicted in bronze statues as squatting and giving birth while holding her breast, a
scene also found on Indus Valley seals. Other objects of worship included snakes and
serpents with human heads. Elamites introduced baked bricks and perfected the art of
making beautiful seals, statues, and carved images depicting monsters. The gryphon,
a winged lion with the head of a bird of prey, originated in Elam and was later
adopted by the Egyptians.
The Elamite cultural influence and bureaucratic writing and accounting system
extended far beyond Iran and Afghanistan to the threshold of the Indus.79 There is a
strong sense of a connection between the Elamites and the people of the Indus
Valley.80 The seals of the Indus Valley are quite similar to those of the Elamite
culture, and a proto-Dravidian language, Brahui, a close cousin of Elamite, is still
alive, with its own literature, in the Indus Valley area in Pakistan.
The Elamite language evolved from an early stage of proto-Elamite to a middle
and late Elamite stage or Achemenian Elamite 81 and then disappeared, being
absorbed into Persian after Alexander’s invasion. Proto-Elamite was pictographic,
based on about 150 logograms,82 and evolved into a syllabic linear script in parallel
with developments in Sumeria of cuneiform writing.
3.2.1 Elamite “Dravidian” Language of Iran
Sandwiched between the Indus Valley (India) and Sumeria, the Elamite people
of Iran were well-established linguistic cousins of the Dravidians.83 After their his-
toric role was played, their languages were absorbed into Achemenian Persian.
77. Encyclopedia Britannica (1978) #3, p. 824.

78. A. H. Dani and R. Thaper in Dani and Masson (1992), p. 294.
79. Walter Hinz (1973), pp. 162-164.
80. Jack M. Sasson (1995), pp. 2164-2177.
81. Ibid. pp. 2162-2163.
82. Walther Hinz (1973), pp. 28-33.
83. David W. McAlpine (1981), p. 20.
68
However, decipherment84 and subsequent reconstruction reveal (Table III.2) several

Dravidian words, i.e., parna (reading), calna (walking), etc.
The Elamite language, as best we can judge based on extant samples of Royal
Achemenian Elamite, had only 12 consonants85 and 4 vowels (a, i, u, and e) as shown
on the grid.
-v +v +v +v -v
Gutturals k - - h -
Palatal c - - y -
Cerebrals - - - r sh
Dentals t z n l s
Labials p - m - -
They lacked a voiced b, g, and j, and used p and k instead; they made no dis-
tinction between t and d, and used z. Nasalization was a feature in their mono- or
polysyllabic script, leading to some discord between the spoken word and the written
word, as Semitic scribes ignored nasalization sounds. The following examples of
Royal Achemenian Elamite illustrates the point:
Spoken:“Hi-in-du-is” is written as “Hidu-is” (means Indian).
Spoken:“Hu-um-ba-an” is written as “Hubaan” or Huban (one god).
The nasalization of n and m, perhaps a legacy from Austric and Sumerian influ-
ences, later influenced Persian, Dravidian, SKT, and Urdu/Hindi.
In Elamite, word types are variable and include cv, v, vc, and cvc types, and the
use of suffixes achieves meaningful change.
Kusi –build
kusi-h –I build
hutta – do
hutta-k –work (noun)
Sometimes a base is modified to change the sense of the word, as in the fol-
lowing example:
kut – (“carry”) is C1VC2 type
kukt – (“carry much” or “carry frequently”) becomes C1VC3C2 type
Kut in Tamil is modified to kutira, meaning “carrier”, or “horse.” Their syntax

is SOV type, like Dravidian.
As mentioned earlier, Elamite languages evolved from PED and therefore the
root structure, according to McAlpine, are similar to that of Proto-Dravidian. Signif-
icant similarities exist in their etymologies. McAlpine has commented on some one
hundred words including many that are traceable to Urdu. A small sample presented
in Table III. 2 is exemplary of modern Urdu words such as parna (read), peetna
(beat), hatana (remove), thokna (strike), a legacy going back some 3,000 years. A
84. Walther Hinz (1973), pp. 34-40.

85. David W. McAlpine (1981), pp. 93–155.
69
discussion on these words, including cel or chalna, meaning “to walk or move” in
Urdu/Hindi, is part of a detailed discussion on Dravidian (chapter IV).
3.3 CENTRAL ASIAN POLYGLOT (EARLIEST ARYAN-IE)
The historical interactions among tribe (s) known as the Hittite, Hurrian, and
Mitanni, during 1700 BC–1200 BC in Syria/Palestine and Asia Minor, among them-
selves and/or against Mesopotamia and Egypt, as revealed on some 25,000 cuneiform
tablets, most from Bogazcoy and written by Mesopotamian scribes,86 were sensa-
tional. The written record leads us to the following consensus:87 1) Hittite is the
oldest written IE language; (2) the Hurrain language employed by Hurrian-Miltanni
kings is a non-Aryan or non-IE type of language; (3) the Mitanni, a distinct tribe, had
personal Indian names such as Anitta and Tushratta and worshiped Indira, Mitra, and
Varuna, which are also mentioned in the Hindu holy book, the Vedas, and are
accepted as “Aryan gods”; (4) the most ancient Veda, the Rig-Veda, represents the
earliest specimen of IA language, SKT, and is accepted as a branch of IE; (5) an
earlier tribe, the Kassites from northern Mesopotamia, spoke a non-Aryan language
as well but worshiped gods including Vedic-Indo Aryan gods (6) also, Central Asia, a
crossroads, gives evidence of a polyglot population including “Semitic,” “Aryan,”
and Uratian peoples; and tribes using the Hurrian-Mitanni languages and “Hittites,”
who worshipped “thousands of gods.” The scribes were mainly Akkadian/Semitic.
History in Asia Minor perhaps started with the establishment of Catal Huyuk in
Konya, a farming town, by Neolithic farmers from the Middle East. Discovered by
archeologists in 1961–1963, the town, a contemporary of Jericho in Palestine and
Mehrgarh in Pakistan, revealed the earliest houses made with standard size mud
bricks (about 3 x 6 x 12 inches), stones, and wood frames and decorated with
imported art of a type that would appear in Greece 3000 years later.
A few millennia later, by 3000–4000 BC, the Central Asian area, also called
Hattusa, as revealed by Bogazkoy inscription and cuneiform tablets (1906–15), was
later inhabited by Hittites speaking an IE type language; the Hittites, perhaps out-
siders, invaded and were absorbed locally, and called themselves Hattusa as well.
Between 1600 BC and 1300 BC, the Hittite people and their famous kings,
including Mursili (1530 BC) and Suppililuma I, ruled Mesopotamia, Babylon and
Asia Minor, and battled off and on with adversaries, including the Hurrian and others.
The powerful Egyptians had even expected favors from them. King Suppil-
iluma received a written request from Nefertiti, the young widowed Egyptian queen,
to send one of his sons to marry her and rule Egypt as Pharaoh.88 His son Zannanza
was sent, but was killed on his way.
86. Johannes Lehman (1977), pp. 68–69 and Germot Wilhelm in Jack M. Sasson (1995),
pp. 1243–47.
87. Germot Wilhelm in Jack M. Sasson (1995), pp. 1243-47
88. Johannes Lehman (1977), pp. 13–14.
70
Table III.3 Hittite Words in Urdu and Other Languages
ENGLISH URDU/
HITTITE GREEK SKT PERSIAN
MEANING HINDI
1. eats etstsi edei atti khurdan kha-na
2. water watar hudor udakam ab Pani
3. air/wind hwantes - vayu hawa Hawa
4. fire pahhur pur agni atash ag, atash
5. horse * asuwa hippos asva asp Ghora
6. dog suwana kuon svan sag Kutta
7. tree/wood taru doru daru daraxt daraxt, paer
8. new newas ne (w) os navas nau Naya
9. foot pat (a) pod pad pa pa-er
10. heart kart kardia hirdaey dil Dil
11. knee kenu gond janu zanu Ghutna
12. is estsi esti asti ast ha-ey
13. in * anda - anda andar Andar
14 up ser/sara - - ser Ser
15. go pai-mi ei-mi e-mi raftan Jana
16. who kuis tis kas kis ka-on
17. what kuit ti kim kih Kya
18. * not * natta - na nah na, nahien
19. two twi duo duva du-em Do
20. three tri treis trayas she Teen
21. * seven * siptam hepta sapta hafta Sat
22. feather pedar parn par Par
23. god siu/siwa zeus deus khuda Khuda
* Some are Sumerian and Semetic loans
They worshiped a large pantheon of gods and goddesses, representatives of the

sun and weather,89 as well as the bull. The Hittites left some literature that shows sig-
nificant influences from Mesopotamia.
89. Ibid. pp. 263–275.
71
Table III.4 Some Ancient Semitic Words Found in Urdu/Hindi and Others
WORD LANGUAGE MEANING OTHER FORMS
1. asabu AK, ASY, S to add hisab in URD, AR
2. banana ASY to make AR, URD, DR (vanana)
3. bitu ASY, AK, S home bait, AR, URD
4. dinu ASY, AK, S law deen in AR, URD (religous code)
5. karabu ASY near qareeb in AR, URD
6. kablu ASY confront muqabil in AR, URD
7. libasu ASY garment AR, URD
8. mu, ma, me AK, ASY water AR, DR URD
9. mutu ASY death AR, URD
10. marsu ASY sick AR, URD (mareez)
11. naru ASY canal AR, URD (naher)
12. nuru ASY light AR, URD, DR
13. nasyaru ASY observe nazar (sight-see), URD
14. rab ASY, AK, S chief AR, URD (god)
15. shams ASY, AK sun AR, PER, URD
16. muskenu AK, ASY poor AR, URD (miskeen) & French
17. camel AK, ASY, S camel AR, English, SKT
18. guhlu AK, ASY alcohol AR, English
19. shirku AK, ASY joined shareek (partner) AR, URD
20. sassamu AK, S sesame AR, English
21. SUM AK, S garlic AR
22. tamkarum AK superviser tamghachi-officer
23. targemanu AK interpreter tarjuman AR, URD (translator)
24. yum ASY day AR, URD, yaum
25. zakaru ASY, AK speaker AR, URD zakir, ziker (speech)
26. lisanu ASY tongue AR
URD-urdu, AK-akkadian, ASY-assyrian, S-sumerian, PER-persian, DR-dravidian, AR-arabic, HIN-hindi
The Hittites’ chief adversaries, the Hurrians, are also mentioned in Sumerian
text (3000 BC). They came from the south of Caucasia, east of Anatolia, and had
been famous as the Uratrian who invaded the Syrio-Palestine area around 1800 BC
and founded a powerful kingdom later on in coordination with the Mitanni. Three
parties, Hittite, Hurrian-Mitanni, and Egyptian, dominated the history of Northern
Mesopotamia (Syrio-Palestine), Asia Minor, and Egypt, during the period of the
72
weakened Mesopotamia after Hamurabi (1700 BC). In about 1500, the Hurrain-
Mitanni enterprise defeated the Hittite and formed a powerful kingdom of Mitanni.
Mitanni kings had Indic names like Shutarna, son of Kirta, Artatama, Tushratta, etc.
Mitanni power peaked after defeating the Hittites, and they made an alliance with the
Pharaoh of Egypt by which King Artatama and his descendants married their
daughters to Pharaohs. After 1365, due to palace intrigue among the Mitannian kings
when a Minor, King Tushratha, took over, the Egyptians scrapped the alliance. The
Hittite thereafter dominated the Hurrian-Mitanni. They were finally invaded by the
Araemians about 1000 BC, and the Hurrian-Mitanni disappeared from history. The
Syrio-Hittite people continued, contemporary of the Assyman king Ashurbanipal. In
600 BC, the whole area came under Achemenian domination.
The Hurrians had an established language and their own gods while the
Mitanni, though they used Hurrian language, worshiped gods of their own, Indira,
Varuna, Mitra (Mithras), and Niasatya. There was no such thing as a Mitanni lan-
guage. Hurrian gods included Teshub, the storm god, Shauskha (Great One) and
Atal (strong one), which in Urdu means “immovable” or “steadfast” (it can be found
as a first name, in contemporary usage, for instance Indian Prime Minister Mr. Atal
Bajpai). Mitanni gods and kings with Indic names are the earliest recorded evidence
of Hindu gods anywhere, including India (the Indian Rig-Veda was written only
during the Common Era). The Mitanni were not a separate tribe or a linguistic
group and perhaps represented a ruling group or dynasty within the Hurrians. In
terms of religion, they probably had some linkage through the gods Marut and
Shurya to the Kassites. Their capital city, Wasshukani, has not been identified or
located.
3.3.1 Languages (Hurrian, Hittite, etc.)
The Hurrian language90 appears to be related to Uratrian, an ancient language

of the Caucasus region, and it might have interacted with Elamite, which had
extended into the Turkmenistan area. Based on a single letter of about 490 lines, the
Hurrian language included words such as asti (wife), sen (brother), tiza (heart), an
(and), man (but), pass (send), nir (great), etc.; asti as istri (wife) and nir as nira,
meaning pure or exclusive, are identified with SKT.
Related more to Urdu in this theater is the Hittite language, with a resemblance
to Persian and Sanskrit. Hittite, covering a vast territory, had intermingled with Sum-
erian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Aramaic, Hattian, Hurrain, Lycian, Lydian, and others,
and must have exchanged words and idioms. The Hittite king, Suppliliuma, boasted
of knowing twelve languages. Hittite vocabulary is thus quite mixed, but its verb
flexion bears a resemblance to some Indo-European languages. It reveals the guttural,
or laryngeal, sounds as well as the aspirant h found in other IE languages.
Nesli, the Hittites own name for their language, had thirteen consonants (b, d,
g, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, and y), as well as an s making an sh? sound (as in “show”), ts,
kw, and gw, as in cats, queen, and Gwen, respectively, and two harsh h sounds. There
are four long and short vowels equivalent to a, e, i, and u. Hittite is an inflectional-
90. Jack M. Sasson (1995), pp. 2167–68.
73
type language and has singular nouns, plural nouns, a three-person verb with singular
and plural, and two genders for animate and inanimate; its pronouns are IE type, wes
(we), antas (us), kwis/kwin, who/whom. The discovery of Hittite was indeed revolu-
tionary, as it dethroned SKT from its status as the “oldest language” and also dis-
credited the hypothetical proto-IE. A short list of some twenty Hittite91 words (Table
III. 3) shows its obvious linkage with the IE family and Urdu through such common
words as hawa (air), naya (new), and andar (in). The table also lists some of the
oldest documented words common to the IE family of languages including Greek and
English, and Sanskrit and Persian.
3.3.2 Hittite Phonemes
These Hittite phonemes, 18 consonants and 4 long and short vowels (a, e, i and
u), are presented in the grid. There are consonant clusters, tw (two), kw (queen), ts
(cats), and gw (gwen) ; gutturals and the aspirant “h” dominate.
-v +v +v +v -v
Gutturals k, kw q, qw - h -
Palatals - - - y -
Dentals t, ts, tw d n l -
Labials p b m w -
The discovery of Hittite confirmed the linkage of IE to the Middle East farming
cultures, as noted by Ruhlen (chapter II). One Hittite sentence in particular is
revealing:
Nu ezza-teni watar-ma, ekuteni.
These IE words, nu (bread), ezza (eat), te (you), watar (water), eku (drink), add
up in the above sentence to mean “you eat bread and you drink water.” It is clear that
nu became na or nan, Persian for bread, and water and aqua are IE word for water.
In these three ancestral theaters (around 2000 BC), the earliest forms of Arabic,
Dravidian, SKT-Persian interacted, exchanged vocabularies/grammar, and thrived.
The Akkadian/Assyrian/Semitic of this triangular melting pot had maintained its
position as a lingua franca.
3.4 AKKADIAN/ASSYRIAN (OLDEST ARABIC)
The language had 17 consonants and five vowels (a, e, i, u, o), with the use of
long and short versions, and utilized a syllabic format in cuneiform92 with inde-
91. Encyclopedia Britannica (1978) I: 834.

92. Samuel A. B. Mercer (1961), pp. 3–5.
74
pendent vowel symbols. The consonant phonemes included in Table II-1 were as
follows:
-v +v +v +v -v
Gutturals k g, kh - h -
Palatals - - - - -
Dentals t d, th, z n l s
Labials p b m - -
The absent palatals >c= and >j= were covered by others like s, g, etc.; kh and other
variations, s, sh, and th, were developed; p and b both were present, although p was
later dropped in Arabic. Flexion was well developed with the use of affixes, three
numbers and a two-gender system, male and female, well set. Sumerian words and
affixes were absorbed; one good example is mah (great) discussed earlier; nin-mah
(great lady) later became the goddess Ninmah, cohort of god Enki.93 Mah or ma as a
suffix became quite common in Arabic as well, i.e., Fati-mah (great conqueror), but
since ninmah was a female, this suffix later came to express female gender, i.e., zali-
mah (female tyrant), khadi-mah (female servant), etc., and appears in female names,
such as Salmah and Fatimah.
A short list of Assyrian vocabulary in Table III. 4 reveals some 5000-year-old
Urdu/Hindi words. Some of them, i.e., banana (to make), mutu (death), nuru (light),
etc., were shared with proto-Dravidian. Other words, mareez (patient), deen (law),
qareeb (near), hisab (accounting), naher (river), rab (god), zikar (to mention) are
used in daily speech.
Sumero-Akkadian literature, both religious and secular, reveals a close resem-
blance with Rig-Ved i.e., hymes on Vedic (Surya) or sun and Akkadian Sun God
Marduk. Additionally, a few extracts from a clay tablet show a form which one finds
in the Upanishad (see chapter V), a dialogue between two persons to clarify issues of
contention. The conversation between a master (m) and a witty slave (s) here is con-
cerned with the topic of politics and revolution:94
Revolution
M: Slave, listen to me!
S: Here I am, master.
M: I want to lead a revolution.
S: So lead, master, lead. If you do not lead a revolution, where will your clothes
come from? And who will enable you to fill your belly?
M: O, well, slave, I do not want to lead a revolution.
S: Don’t lead, master, do not lead a revolution. The man who leads a revolution is
either killed or flayed, or has his eyes pulled out, or is arrested and thrown in jail.
93. Jean Buttero (1992), pp. 208–210.

94. Ibid pp. 250–255.
75
Table III.5
Words of Vedic and Avestan and Urdu/Hindi
AVESTAN
VEDIC/SKT MEANING OLD/PERS MEANING URDU/HINDI/MEANING
1. api friend apas mutual apas, apna, mutual, our ally
2. toka offspring taoxman seed tukhm-seed
Tokman offshoot tuxm seed -
3. nema half naema half neem-half
4. rodast two surface raodh face ru-face, rukh-face
5. kratu insight xratu insight khirad-wisdom
6. janati he knows zana (a) know dana-knowledable
7. bandh bind band bind band-bind, tie
8. abhra cloud abra, abr cloud abr-cloud
9. pramana authority framana command Farmana-order
10. sthuna pillar stuna pillar sutoon-pillar
11. hirania gold zarania gold zard- (yellow)
12. apam water apam water ab-water
This really reveals a high level of socio-political culture. The long tablet
written in this form brings out the pros and cons of love, marriage, business, sacrifice,
charity, and others, in a witty format which seems quite modern.
Akkadian/Assyrian and its later successors generated modern Semitic i.e.,
Arabic and Hebrew and other dialects in various regions. The Western branch of
Semitic became identified with Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic. Its northern branch,
and also southern, came together under various terms, i.e., Thamudic, Dedanite,95
and became modern Arabic around AD 400 which later assumed the modern role in
Islam. The Eastern branch Semitic developed into various Iraqi dialects. Other pho-
nemes evolved (Table II-1) and the script changed entirely (this will be discussed in
the script section). Modern Arabic has an intimate evolutionary and deep historic
relationship with modern Persian; this is further clarified in the following.
95. Jack M. Sasson (1995), pp. 21–22.
76
3.5 EARLIEST PERSIAN
It is presumed that the speakers of the South-Eastern branch of IE, termed as

(hypothetical) proto-Indo-Iranian (PII), migrated to the Persian highlands and later on
split into an Indian branch, which moved into Afghanistan and India (1000-1500
BC), to create the Indo-Aryan (IA) or SKT language. The geographic locations of
those who stayed back, the Iranian “Aryan” or Persian speakers, are identified in the
Assyrian record as early as 837 BC as Parsua (Kurdistan area). One of these Parsua
tribes, Medes,96 became powerful, and their king Cyaxarses captured Nineveh (Iraq)
and created an empire, which included Assyria, Elamite Persia, and Media. This
short-lived Median empire was captured by the governor of the province of Pars, the
famous Cyrus, one of the “greats” of history.
After his death, it was taken over by King Darius I (Dara is still a popular Urdu
first name), the Achemenian monarch who defined himself in the inscriptions as a
“Parsua [Persian] son of Parsuas [Persian],” an Aryan of Aryan descent. His empire,
spanning from India (North West) to Egypt, was divided into 20 provinces or
“Satraps,” with India being the richest. The empire later extended to include Greece;
it was governed in Aramaic, and not Persian as had been presumed. After two
hundred years or so, this empire broke up, after Alexander, as stated earlier.
Table III.6
Mesopotamia Phonemes and Modern Urdu/Hindi Phonemes
HARD SOFT SO FT SEMI DIPH-

LEVEL HARD SO FT SIBILANTS VOWELS
ASP ASP NASAL VOWELS THONGS
-V -V +V +V +V +V -V
[k] [kw] [a] [e],
Gutturals [kh] <kh> [g] [gw] <gh> [ng] [h]
<q> [a] (aa) <ai>
[i]
Palatals [c] [ch] <ch> <j> <jh> <n> [y]
[l] (ee)
Cerebrals <r>
<t> <th> <d> <dh> <n> <r> [sh]
Retroflex <r>
[t] [th] <dh> <dh>
Dentals <th> [n] [l] [s] [l]
[ts, tw] <dz> <zh>
[u] [o]
Labials [p] <ph> <f> [b] <ph> [m] [vw] <f>
[u] (uu) <au>
* 24 Mesopotamian consonants and 5 long and short vowels enclosed in [ ].
** 19 additional consonants and 4 vowels enclosed in < >.
As a language, Persian really took shape through the religion of Zoroastri-

anism, whose Prophet Zarathustra 97 (600–1000 BC) preached among the Aryan
hordes who worshiped an assortment of gods and goddesses, including animals, the

77
sun, and the earth (not much different from the Babylonians, Elamites, and Hittites).
The religion, written in “Old Persian” and called Avesta, taught a sort of monotheism
with a supreme god named Ahura Mazda, and a devil, Ahriman, a pioneering concept
of the Satan of later monotheistic faiths. According to this new faith, the greatest
virtue was piety, which was essential for salvation and was achievable through man’s
fulfilling his duty to attempt to make (1) an enemy a friend, (2) the wicked righteous,
(3) the ignorant learned, and (4) to worship god with prayer, sacrifice, and charities.
Lending was sacred, but interest-free. Also included was an innovative concept of
resurrection on the Day of Judgment. These ideas later appear in other religions.
The current book of Zoroastrian faith, Zend Avesta, dating to the 4th century
AD, has survived through centuries of warfare. It resembles Vedic as well as Baby-
lonian scriptures and is divided into five parts. It contains stories of creation, flood,
prayer ritual to worship sacred fire, and rites for priest. One of these five, the
“Yasna,” includes 27 chapters or “Gathas,” which consist of prophetic revelations in
metric form. The Zoroastrian religion, the state religion of the Persian “Sassanids,”
became significantly marginalized with the advent of Islam after the seventh century.
The Persian language slowly evolved through Zend-Avesta to Pahelvi, to
modern Persian. The bulk of its literature, including poetry, epics, and prose,
developed much later. Of importance to the early history of Persian are the presumed
reasons for separating from SKT-speaking Aryan. The linguistic similarity between
Avestan and Vedic SKT is striking, but divergent views on various divine gods seem
fundamental and perhaps caused the split. For example, the Vedic word Deva (god)
means “devil or demon” in Old Persian, and the greatest god, Indira, as well as
Nasatya of Rig Veda are considered as evil spirits in Avestan, according to T.
Burrow.98
The Persian language, under various dialectical forms and names, including
Kurdish, Ossetic, Pashto, and Balochi, covers a vast area in Central Asia, western
Pakistan, Oman, parts of Syria, Chinese Turkistan, and, of course, Iran.
Persian’s 32 letters represent a range of consonants similar to Arabic, plus 3
additional ones representing ch (church), p (Peter), and g (god), but Persian does not
use the retroflexes of Urdu, and hard t and d, etc. The vowel system is basically the
same as in Arabic and Urdu. Persian is written in modern Arabic script like Urdu, and
its inflexion is restricted to verbs. Persian vocabulary is extremely rich due to its
origin from Mesopotamian elements, including Semitic, Aramaic, Arabic Sumerian,
Hittite, and Elamite. It does have at least fifty percent or more Arabic words because
of the cumulative acquisition from pre-historic times.
3.6 EARLIEST SANSKRIT (VEDIC)
The IA speakers, having presumably split with their Persian cousins in Iran (a
former Elamite-Dravidian territory) passed through Afghanistan, another proto-Dra-
vidian territory (about 1000–1500 BC), and settled in Punjab and Sindh, an estab-
98. T. Burrow (1973), pp. 1–5.
78
lished proto-Dravidian country of the famous Indus Valley culture. They had
memorized their historical and religious traditions and composed religious hymns and
prayers in their Vedic language, all in oral tradition. Their voluminous work, Rig
Veda, written down in later centuries of the first millennium CE, represents the oldest
specimen of SKT language, called Vedic, with closest affinity to Avestan. Vedic and
Avestan, which evolved into SKT and Persian respectively, share a common heritage
and a lexical similarity.
Their common vocabulary, though archaic, resonates through modern Urdu/
Hindi and other Indian dialects. A small sample from a large list in Table III.5
includes words now extinct in SKT; they came back into India as part of modern
Persian after 10th century AD. For instance, tokman (Vedic), Tukhm (seed) Persian,
nema (half), and abra (cloud) are still used in Urdu but are extinct in SKT; and # 6
jannati of SKT and Avestan are current in Urdu. Janati is a common expression for
knowing — Janna (to know), jano (to learn), etc., and dana (wise), danish (wise),
danial (wise), danai (wisdom). Vedic apam (water), a Sumerian loan (see Table III.1)
active in Urdu-Persian as ab, was replaced by jal, pani, nir, all Austric-Dravidian
loans into SKT. A review of the expansion of SKT by acquisition from Indian lan-
guages, Austrics, and Dravidian, is quite important in order to grasp the real contri-
bution of SKT towards Urdu/Hindi. Many such loans (followed up in the next
chapter) from Austro-Dravidian via SKT are quite common.
3.7 MESOPOTAMIAN PHONETICS AND PIE
A review of Mesopotamian phonetics really confirms the concept of linguistic

evolution and cancels out the theory of devolution as the basis for the genetics of
Urdu/Hindi, English, etc. Linguistic evolution in Mesopotamia and its scanty pho-
nemes, consonants ranging from 12 (Elamitic) to 18 (Hittite) inclusive of a few
clusters with just 5 elementary vowels, contrasts strongly with Romantic PIE, with its
30 consonants, 10 vowels, and 12 diphthongs, mainly a replica of SKT, according to
Dr. Chatterji. Indo-Europeanist scholars like Chatterji, T. Burrow, and others, are
unable to explain the reason (s) and mechanisms of genesis of simple Mesopotamian
fossils from devolution of PIE and/or SKT. But they still tend to maintain the prev-
alent Aryan model and support the mythical/racial/religious views.
Modern languages, SKT, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu/Hindi, apparently had to
grow by acquisition and proliferation of phonemes/consonants as noted in Table II–1;
a synthetic Table III–6 attempts to show the extent of growth from Mesopotamia
onward. Fossil phonemes, all inclusive, a total of 24 enclosed in vertical brackets [ ],
had to acquire 19 additional consonants and 4 additional vowels; these are enclosed
in angular brackets < >.
In the case of SKT, phonetic acquisition had been from Austric Munda and
Dravidian, as mentioned before and as will be seen later. While DR had depended on
Austric Munda as the main source, Arabic and Persian, more or less, had grown in the
Mesopotamian brew itself, as noted above.
79
3.8 MESOPOTAMIAN GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
Greater Mesopotamia clearly reveals three phases of grammar, with inflexion

appearing most recently with Akkadian (~2800 BC) of Iraq. The phase of isolating
type (Chinese, Austric-Munda group) in West Asia and Central Asia seems to have
ended by the Neolithic stage with its speakers settled in China, South-East Asia, and
India. The Neolithic phase had featured the agglutinative type, disseminated all over
Europe, West and Central Asia, and India. The oldest example being Sumerian,
Elamite-Hurrain-Mitanni, Uratrian, Kassite and Celtic, Turkish Finnish, Caucasian
group and Indian, proto-Dravidian, this trend was disseminated by the earlier farmers
of the Middle East. The flexion, or inflection, phase, beginning in the Syrian desert
(~3000 BC), went into Europe perhaps by a second-phase migration from Western
Turkey/Syro-Palestine to Eastern and Western Europe.
A branch from Eastern Turkey also trekked into Iran and India. So, exchanges
between the older agglutinating tongue and newly-arrived inflected one, in all proba-
bility, generated Latin, Gothic, Greek, SKT, and Persian. New immigrants, as is
usually the case, guarded their grammar but borrowed local vocabulary, e.g., Persian
from Elamite, and SKT from Dravidian and others.
This clear scheme, obviously opposed to a mythical and/or racial theory of dis-
integration of SKT or PIE into daughters, is further supported by a larger shared
vocabulary in Mesopotamia, which apparently became naturalized via grammar and a
changed name. For example, the Sumerian verb dena (give) (Table 17–1) has
perhaps reached India three times in succession, through DR, SKT, and then Persian,
and Europe via Latin, or even earlier. The same thing happened with Sumerian ab
(water), which came with SKT and later Persian. Mesopotamia, in effect, blurs the
linguistic fault line proposed in the 19th century, and classification based on cognates
loses its validity. A significant portion of Mesopotamian vocabulary, including
numbers, relationship words, verbs (i.e., dena etc.), animal names, and colors, binds
the immigrant farmers who settled in India, the Middle East, and Europe into one
human family, neither Semite nor Aryan nor Dravidian. This is further elaborated on
in the classification proposed in chapter 17.
3.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY
The chapter reviews the most ancient languages of man — Sumerian,

Akkadian, Elamite, and Hittite — and includes linguistic features, phonemes, and
vocabularies, revealing a direct link with hundreds of words in modern Urdu/Hindi.
The literature of these ancient languages was seen as a prototype, or model, for
modern Urdu/Hindi and also other modern languages of the world. A review of
Elamite revealed its imprint on modern Dravidian and Persian; the history of Persian
reveals an ancient pre-Islamic linkage with Semitic languages and absorption of
Semitic vocabulary into Persian, refuting the prevailing view that Islam had imposed
the Arabic words.
80
The chapter also reveals a rich Sumero-Babylonian culture, which binds the
Western and Indian systems to the Middle East and also refutes the claim that Arabic
started with Islam, or that Hebrew is the mother of all. The chapter also provides clear
evidence of an obscure SKT language and Aryan gods in Syria-Turkey, refuting the
mythical genesis of SKT in India and/or Germany. The evidence is clear, through the
grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics shared between IE, Semitic, and Dravidian, and
necessitates a new classification, as proposed in chapter 17.
81
CHAPTER IV. AUSTRIC-MUNDA-DRAVIDIAN AND OLDEST
HINDI/URDU
4.0 INTRODUCTION
In recognition of the West Asian roots of Urdu/Hindi and the status of the sub-
continent, a refuge of migrants, and a melting pot, the genetics of Urdu/Hindi implies
a cumulative evolution from the oldest language. Thus many exhortation (s) of Prof.
Chatterji99 supporting the Aryan model of classification have to cede to the realities
of six ingredients which fit into the proposed “DNA” type model (fig II.2). Two of the
oldest ingredients, Austric-Munda and Dravidian, represent the main “skeletal” coil
and a contribution of about 60% of vocabulary. The four “chemical” cross-rungs of
the ladder in the model are seen as SKT, Persian, Arabic, and LEXI, or Lingua
Extinctorum Indica. The pre-Aryan phase naturally must have generated the hypo-
thetical hybrid speech or proto Urdu/Hindi or proto PKT; termed “Mundravi.” But
even prior to Austric-Munda migrants, India did have other paleolithic migrants, as
noted by many historian-linguists.
4.1 PRE-AUSTRIC PHASE
The most ancient linguistic group of the subcontinent, the Brushaski people,
now confined to the northern highlands of Pakistan, most probably came before the
last Ice Age. Genetically, they are linked to the oldest inhabitants of Europe, the
Basque, according to Cavalli Sforza. The Brushaski language, now mixed up with
others, still defies classification. It apparently loaned an important word, sinda,
meaning river, to SKT as sindhu,100 carrying the same meaning.
99. S. K. Chatterji (1972), p. 22.

100. R. L. Turner (1973) # 13415.
83
Ancient Iranian Elamite, with a consonant change sibilant s to semi-vowel h,

created a basic root word HI-in-DU-is, or Hindu, as elaborated in the chapter on PED.
It literally meant a person from the land of rivers. The country Hindustan (Land of
Rivers), the religion Hinduism, and the language Hindi, are derivatives of this basic
root.
The Negrithos were essentially the first recognized racial group during the
Paleolithic phase. They moved on and are now confined to Andaman Island in the
Indian Ocean; they also inhabit North East Assam, and Cochin in the south, and are
scattered throughout Bengal, Orrisa, and Sindh. Their contribution to the Indian lan-
guage system remains unknown. The Bengali word badud is probably a survivor,
according to Chatterji.101 Another, sisu, meaning “a boy” in African Bantu102 and “a
child” in SKT, Hindi, and Bengali, is perhaps, a coincidence.
4.2 AUSTRIC PEOPLE’S CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
The Austric family of languages is the third largest, occupying the whole of
South East Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, and is among the oldest linguistic
families, having separated from an African ancestral language some 20,000–40,000
years ago, as reviewed in chapter II. The Austric speakers had passed through West
Asia and India, leaving colonies and linguistic traces everywhere, to appear later as
the rice farmers of the Neolithic age. In India, they lived all over the north and south
for several millennia prior to the arrival of Dravidian farmers about 7000 BC. They
might even have come in several waves from the west and possibly also moved in
reverse from east (the Indo-China area) to west, bringing techniques of rice culti-
vation. After the arrival of the Dravidians, they were either displaced and/or inte-
grated but contributed their significant share towards Indian religion, culture, and
language. They were the co-authors, along with the Dravidians, of the glorious Indus
Valley civilization.
The subsequent arrival of Aryan people was another push for integration and/or
movement into safer locations. Austric-language speakers now live in the hills of
central India, in the state of Chattisgarh, in the East Assam Hills, the state of
Jharkhand, which includes the Chottanagpur area of former Bihar state, Orissa, etc.
Here, they share the land with two northern Dravidian tribes, the Kurux and Malto,
and have a status similar to that of the “American Indians.” As the oldest Indians,
they are labeled as “Adivasi,” meaning aborigines, who continue with their own life-
style, including hunting with a bow and arrow. The word ban for “bow” is their loan
to SKT. They are the most important and the oldest contributors to the genetics of
Urdu, their language providing significant loans to both Dravidian and SKT, besides
the hybrid of Urdu/Hindi. According to Kuiper,103 some 40% of the vocabulary of
101. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 31–66.

102. F. Bodmer (1985), p. 205.
103. F. B. J. Kuiper (1948), pp. 7–8.
84
Chapter IV. Austric-Munda-Dravidian and Oldest Hindi/Urdu
north Indian languages, including Urdu/Hindi, is derived from the Austric family
directly or indirectly, through Dravidian and SKT, as we will see later.
4.3 RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION
In India the Austrics are described by historians as dark-skinned, with long

foreheads and snub noses. As a socio-cultural group, in ancient times they were
simple village people and, according to Chatterji, initially had no use for milk.104
They trained the elephant and also domesticated the fowl. They knew cotton farming,
the weaving of cloth, and the manufacture of sugar.105 Many agricultural terms for
fruits, kadala –“banana,” haldi – “turmeric,” and others are their legacy. They had
their own arithmetical system, termed kauri, which counted in units of twenties. The
term is still used in Urdu. “Kauri” later on also became the name for small flat sea-
shells, which were used as money even in the Moghul period. It is not uncommon
even now to hear the idiomatic sentence <kauri bhi na rahi>, meaning, “not even a
kauri (penny) is left.”
The Indian money-counting system was based on multiples of 4; the unit called
“ana”= 4 pennies or Paisa, discontinued (since 1950s) was also based on 20. Prof.
Pryzyski traced the concept of 20 to 5 fingers, four times, and the ratio of 20 with 5
fingers = 4; the Austric culture really runs deep. For recording time, they used the
days of the moon, or “Tithis,” a word loaned to SKT meaning “date.” It remains
current along with Arabic “Tareekh.”
Some religious ideas of the Austric people are included in modern-day Hin-
duism. They had a concept of the afterlife and soul, and the idea of transmigration of
the soul, and rebirth. The essence of modern Hinduism seems to be an Austric
legacy106 and not a Vedic-Aryan idea. The concept of the soul sometimes included
the plurality of souls, one entering a plant, another an animal, and a third or fourth
entering other things. They buried their dead, and their graves customarily consisted
of upright stone slabs. Tree burials, as well, were their legacy. According to Prof.
Majumdar,107 many legends of Hinduism, religious stories and notions really, origi-
nated with the Austric people, who also initiated many rituals of Hindu worship or
“puja” ceremonies, such as the use of coconut and its water, rice, and bananas, and
the use of vermilion by women.
Above and beyond these, two other terms of religious significance might have
been their legacy, if not those of later Dravidian. One is the swastika sign, or doubled
Gammedian cross, a cultural component of an ancient Mediterranean Heliolithic
people, supposedly a good luck sign, which had become disseminated throughout
civilization, perhaps by these ancient Austric folks. The emblem, also noticed on
Indus Valley seals, is still used on residential entrances, temple walls, and pillars.
104. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 31–66.

105. R. C. Majumdar (1987), pp. 17–18.
106. S. K. Chatterji (1972), p. 41.
107. S. Levi et al. (1928), pp. 85–89.
85
Hitler adopted it in the mistaken belief that it was a symbol of Aryanism and white
supremacy.
In the great land of rivers, India, the Austric loaned their own word for river,
Ganga or Ganges, meaning “any river,” similar to sindh, from Brushaski. Ganga later
became the proper noun of the holiest of the holy. Religious myths about its origin,
the holiness of its water, and myriads of bathing rituals make up a big chunk of the
Hindu religion, a legacy of the Austric people. Incidentally, the word “Ganga,”
meaning “a river,” has similar phonetics in many cultures in Indo-China, and China,
such as gang, khong, gan, kang, kankai, and chang, etc., involving changes between
unvoiced “k” and voiced “g.” In the Indian languages, Bengali and Tamil, this word
for river lives on.
Linguists like Levi and associates and others really deserve special credit for
the resurrection of these languages and aborigines, the oldest Indians. These folks,
according to Prof. Levi, are classed as “Maleccha,” a SKT equivalent of “barbarians,”
in the Hindu holy books, Mahabharat and Ramayana. The scriptures even predict,
says Levi, that these people along with other Malecchas, i.e., Dravidian, Andhra, will
rule during Kal-yug, or Kali-age, which is the case today. The hypothesis — or guess,
really — seems to be bearing out to some extent. In the two new states, Chattisgarh
and Jharkand, Austric-Munda speakers do have some power. And the Dravidians
have four states, since the British time.
4.4 THE AUSTRIC OR MUNDA LANGUAGE
Long interaction between Austric/Munda and Dravidian over several thousand

years led to a significant mutual exchange of features and vocabulary, and later on,
the same phenomenon continued with Vedic-SKT. The language changed and was
completely marginalized. It was considered as the language of a semi-civilized or
uncivilized tribe, until the British arrival in India. Reaction to resurgent Aryanism
during the 19th –20th centuries and the linguistic zeal of Christian missionary scholars
rediscovered this forgotten language. Prof. Levi, the French linguist, Jean Przyluski,
and Jules Bloch, noted borrowings from Austric into SKT and Bengali. Several loans
such as maha (great), ghara (house) and a few others, into SKT were even linked to
the Sumerian lexicon. It was recognized that Sumerians had played an important role
as agents of transmission of cultural elements between Oceania, Europe, and
Africa.108 Prof. Levi verbalized his ideas, perhaps reacting to the prevailing intensity
of Aryanism-Sanskritphilia, saying: “We must find out whether the legends, the
religion and the philosophical thought of India [Aryan India] owe anything to the
past. India has been too exclusively examined from the Indo-European standpoint.”
Follow-up work by Kuiper had focused on the phonetics, the mutual exchange
between Dravidian and Austric-Munda, and a discussion of some hundred words bor-
rowed into SKT and PKT from the Austric family. A significant development had
occurred even earlier — Campbell brought out the first dictionary on Santhali, a
108. Levi et al. VII–XII.
86
dialect of Austric-Munda of the Bihar-Bengal area. Its newest edition by McPhail

(1983) is now a major resource. Indian linguist-historians have largely remained mute
regarding the role of Munda in Urdu or SKT. Dr. Chatterji, however, recognizing the
works of Jean Przyluski and others, did show some academic foresight in a speech
delivered at Lahore in 1928 and published in Levi’s book.109 Chatterji acknowledged
the loans from Austric into SKT and Urdu/Hindi, and underscored their significance
as follows:
These words demonstrate borrowings from the Austric dialects at a time when
they were spoken by the mass of people evidently on the Gangetic plains. The peo-
ple who spoke those Austric dialects have now merged into Hindu and Moham-
medan masses of northern India; they have become transformed into the present-
day Aryan-speaking castes and groups of the country.
In spite of this confession, his writing on Bengali and Hindi-Urdu shows a per-
sistent Aryo-centrism. Both the books are centered on SKT as the fountainhead of
Bengali and Hindi-Urdu. This tendency, as stated earlier, goes back to ancient times
when the Indian linguist employed an interesting term, “tad bhava.” In this, the gram-
marian would Sankritize a local word, called desi (indigenous or aboriginal), not
SKT, inflected through its grammar, a sort of naturalization, and would call it SKT.
This, in fact, is seen in all languages, but the loaned words are identified with the
source. Thus, hundreds of so-called “desi” words of Austric and Dravidian origin
now masquerade through this process of “tad bhava” as SKT and are current in Urdu/
Hindi; e.g., the Dravidian word parna (read or learn) and the Sumerian dena (give)
have been cited earlier. The process, beginning with the earliest SKT Rig-Veda, went
on for several centuries, building an enormously rich vocabulary. But an average
college graduate of the subcontinent, non-conversant with linguistic history, can
never believe that SKT would borrow this way; nearly everyone subscribes to the
dogma that SKT can only be a “provider-mother” to all others. This idea will be dis-
cussed in detail under SKT.
4.4.1 Munda and Its Dialects
Munda110 is the general name given by linguists to the Indian branch or sub-
family of the larger Austric or Austro-Asiatic (AA) family, covering about 150
million people. The other branch of AA is Mon-Khmer, of which one Indian dialect,
Khasi, is spoken in the northeastern hills of the Indian state of Assam. Munda itself
has about a dozen or so dialects/languages divided into a northern group comprised of
Korku, Santhali, Mundari, Koda, etc; a southern/south-central consisting of Kharia,
Juang, Sora, and Gorum; and a western group, Korki, in the western hills of Central
India. Of these, Santhali, Mundari, Ho, and Svara are the chief ones. In Nepal, several
dialects such as Manchatr and Dhimal are still current. In ancient days, however,
Munda had covered extensive areas including further west, up to the southern border
of Kashmir, where a dialect, Kanawari, remains current. In the northern Gangetic
109. Ibid. XXV.

110. Encyclopedia Britannica (1974) 2:481–483.
87
Valley, one dialect, Kol, has now been absorbed into present-day Urdu/Hindi but has
left its name, Kol, to the city of Aligarh, near Delhi. Kol had originally covered a
much larger area, up to Cambodia. None of India’s dialects is fully developed to
assume a literary status.
4.4.2 Linguistic Features
Munda uses 20 phonetic consonants as follows, and about 30–35 vowel

sounds, with liberal use of prefixes, inflixes, and suffixes. These are additional conso-
nants with slight aspiration and puffing sounds (ph, th, ch, kh), a sort of semi con-
sonant. But modern speakers do reveal cerebral or retro flexes like Urdu (Table II.1).
-v +v +v +v -v
Gutturals K g - h -
Palatals C j - - -
Cerebrals - - - r -
Dentals T d [dh] n l s
Labials P b [bh] m w -
-v+v +v+v-v
Words in the AA family are usually monosyllabic, but in Austric Munda, under
Dravidian influence, polysyllabism is seen as well. Prefixes and inflixes are generic
to the AA family. The use of suffixes in Munda has conferred some features of agglu-
tination, a characteristic of Dravidian. Another phonetic feature, “nasalization,” has
influenced all Indian languages and is perhaps a legacy of the AA family, and is also
seen in West Asian fossil languages, Persian, and Arabic as well. The sounds n and m
resonate in all, including SKT and Dravidian, e.g., pur > puram, etc.
Kuiper provides some insight with examples of this process, e.g, the words ba-
da and da-da would change to ba-nda and da-nda, respectively. Aspiration of conso-
nants is another feature, i.e., g/k > h; the word kekaya of SKT would change to
hehaya. Vowels are numerous, as stated, as are free changes leading many derivatives
of the root word. One example from Kuiper covers the idea. Kubja, 111 a long-
accepted IE (SKT) word meaning “crooked” or “hunch-backed,” used as kubra in
Urdu/Hindi and kaj, meaning “defect in a person,” was, in fact, derived from a San-
thali root, ka-ba (bent or crooked). With a vowel change, we find kubra, kupre, kubro,
kubja, kabjo, etc. There are numerous other examples which cannot be accommo-
dated. Consonant changes between g, k, and h have created a similar plethora of
words. One example to borrow from Prof. Levi112 is relevant to Urdu and Punjabi:
consonant g/k changes to h, which itself may be dropped totally, as follows:
AA words for man: koro, har, koral > hara, hor
AA words for woman: kuri, kuri, korri > era
111. F. B. J. Kuiper (1948), pp. 42–43.

112. S. Levi et al. (1929), pp. 129–160.
88
Kuri (girl), a Punjabi word, has as its equivalent gauri, in eastern Urdu; the
word hara is used as hari for farm workers, or a subordinate worker, and the word era
(woman) perhaps became a suffix in Urdu to create ladies’ names; Munir > Muniera;
Saghir > Saghiera.
4.4.3 Prefixes and Infixes of Austric-Munda
This is one of the most important features of the AA family. In Munda espe-
cially,113 all the consonants, except m, n, y, and w, can serve as a simple prefix.
Insertion of another affix usually a nasal n, m, or a liquid r or l between the root and a
prefix, is also common; in fact, a common example of vanga or banga, meaning
Bengal. Two examples of a common prefix, ma or maha (great), from Levi, are rel-
evant to some Urdu/Hindi words such as mahraj (great King), mahajan (great man,
but now means a money dealer), maha-rishi (great sage), maha-vir (great hero).
Tracing it to Sumerian and AA roots, Levi has documented its pre-historic usage and
ancient connection to the West Asia and East Asia tracks.
4.5 MUNDA-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY

Peacock: The words maraka and mayura (Urdu-mor) for “peacock” are an
early adoption in SKT, mentioned in RigVeda. They are derived from rak, meaning
“to cry” or “weep” in Santhali. Since peacocks make a loud cry, they were named ma-
rak. It seems that with a consonant change k to g, we have the words rag, ragni for
musical tunes.
Elephant: Besides the peacock, an Indian bird, Austric people had to deal with
elephants everywhere in India and Indo-China. Austric and Dravidian or SKT names
for elephant are derived from root words for either the tusk, also called its hand, or its
massive teeth. The word for hand in Urdu or SKT is hasthi > hathi from hast, (“hand”
in SKT and Persian). Another word in SKT, matunga, for elephant, is derived from
Austric root words for hand, such as tong, tung, tan, etc. With the prefix ma (great),
we get matunga. Indian words (Austric or Dravidian) for elephant even generated the
Semitic word for the same creature; (Arabic fil, Aramaic pil, Assyrian pilu). The Dra-
vidian word for teeth is pallu (Telugu), pal (Tamil), but in other AA family lan-
guages, pal, palo, phluk mean “tusk.” The Dravidian (Kannada) word for elephant is
palla;114 men and women with big, ugly teeth are nicknamed pallan or palli; in AA
languages, pal, palo, and phluk mean “tusk.”
Pronominal Particles
Munda has been a major source of pronouns which became part of everyday
speech in Urdu/Hindi and other NIA dialects. Some common ones discussed by Levi
and others are as follows:
ih, ai >– for neutral second person (you)
Example sentence: “ai yahan aow, ai (o you), aow (come), yahan (here).”
113. Ibid. p. III.

114. T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau (DED # 3986).
89
May, mä, mei–“you and thou” — perhaps became amein and mian and were
used as follows: “amein” (or “mian”) “yahan aow.” In this example the two are sub-
stituted as honorific “you” in Urdu, to mean, O Mister, you come here.
In some dialects mein also substitutes for I or me: – ne is another useful particle
used with mein (I), i.e., mein-ne diya (gave), other particles are < >; yes <ha>, you
<ape>, which <kis>, then <tab>, when <kab>, where <kahan>, he <us>, they <une>,
so <to>; sentence: <to kahan jaaien> meaning “so where to go?”
As for <tho>, the sentence: <aek tho do> means “just give one.” Some particles
accentuate verbs as auxiliaries, such as English “let” <do>, as in the sentence: “Laila
ko janey do.” (Let Laila go.)
The Munda-Austric family, as a whole, has been called by linguists pronominal
governed, and as one of its integral characteristics. Munda, in its evolution to become
proto-Urdu, continued to use them. It also borrowed suffixes, etc., to utilize them as
particles.
Echo Words
Two rhyming words used together is also a feature of the Munda family’s
legacy in Urdu/Hindi and others. Sometimes, the second piece is apparently mean-
ingless, as in the following example:
For example: London–Vondon
Farid–Varid
Zaine–Vaine
Yasmin–Vasmin
Town and Place Names
Prof. Levi has shown that many suffixes in towns and place names all across
South Asia originated with the Austric-Munda people. Some of these are: pura, para,
puram, poura or boura, ura, ara; kura, kara, koura, oura; kot, kota, kothi; and gar,
ghara, goura. Some of the towns and cities are Selimpour, Nagpur, Nagar Kot,
Aligarh, Naroura, Ara, Kara. Being much older than Semitic, IE or Dravidian
(Austric), in passing through the West Asian area, must have absorbed/exchanged
and/or left a shared linguistic legacy with West Asian languages. Some of these suf-
fixes perhaps went elsewhere as well, i.e., Lenin-grad, Ham-burg, Edinburg,
Shapour, Persepolis, etc.
Verbs
Munda has no flexion, and its languages are of the isolating type, which neces-
sitates the use of auxiliary verbs such as is, will, and was, etc., as in English. Urdu/
Hindi has inherited these characteristics.
4.6 MUNDA GENDER, NUMBER AND SYNTAX

Munda has three numbers, singular, dual, and plural, which seem to be another
ancient legacy shared with Semitic IE/SKT. In gender, it does not differentiate
between masculine and feminine, having a common gender for both, while Urdu has
two. An additional gender in Munda is used for inanimate objects.
90
Syntax
The generic syntax for the AA family is similar to that of SKT and Semitic
SVO type, e.g., Noah eats banana. But the Munda sub-family had been influenced by
the Dravidian family and changed its word order to the SOV pattern, a feature of
Urdu/Hindi. The sentence would become: Noah banana eats.
In summary, the major contribution of Munda towards Urdu includes its iso-
lating or analytical character, its nasal sound, some semi-consonants, many pronoun
particles, and several important prefixes and suffixes, especially those denoting city
and place names. It’s not surprising then that Munda is a major source of vocabulary
including verbs, nouns, and other items in not only the Urdu/Hindi language but the
entire South Asian speech system.
4.7 GENERAL MUNDA VOCABULARY IN URDU/HINDI
Urdu/Hindi can essentially be called a continuation of Munda speech influ-

enced by others. Its vocabulary is a direct inheritance, as Dr. Chatterji alluded, and is
further enriched by loans from Dravidian and others. Mutual exchange between it and
Dravidian went on much longer than with SKT, borrowing and re-borrowing having
occurred as well. The list of verbs presented in the table (Table IV – 1) is derived
from Campbell’s and others’ dictionaries and crosschecking reveals a few overlaps,
especially between Munda and Dravidian. The list is enormous, running into several
hundred examples, so only a limited number can be discussed here. The Munda
names are given in “< >.”
Animal Names
As they were in a sense the most ancient people, the names they gave animals
have gone into the Urdu and also in Dravidian and SKT languages. We have already
discussed peacock and elephant; others include pig <sukara, suvar>, dog <kuto,
kutta>, ox <balivarda-baiyel>, bull <sand>, deer <hiran>, lamb <bhend, bakra>,
bird <cirya>, pigeon <kapot, kabuter> and crow <kaowa>.
Fruits and Vegetables
Similar to animals, many fruits and vegetables have very old names: coconut
<niyor-naryal>, banana <kelu-kayla>, lemon <nebo-lemo>, cotton <kapas>, clove
<lau-ong>, pepper <marica, mircha>, eggplant <baigan>, peas <matar>, coriander
<dhania>, turmeric <haldi>, rice <caval>.
Edibles
Some of these words in this category have become known around the world:
bread <roti>, spicy sauce <chutney>. Others are well known in Urdu: butter
<makhan>, fried cake/roti <puri>, yogurt <dahi>, water <nir, jal>.
Body Parts
The most popular Munda borrowings in Urdu include foot <godh>, arm
<banh>, leg <jangh>, mouth <munh>, forehead <matha>, moustache <misei, munch>,
beard <dari>, skull <khopri>, throat <gala>, stomach <pet>, and cheek <gal>.
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Relationship Names
Besides the words amma (from Sumerian) in Urdu for mother, and adda for
father, Munda provided its own terminology for parents, such as aya, aji, enga for
mother, and <apa, bap> for father, and <didi, dai> for sister. For aunt, the words are
<kaki, masi>. Generic words for boy and girl <kura>and <kuri>, respectively, are
current in Punjabi and <babu>, boy, <bibi>, girl in the eastern dialects of Bihar and
Bengal. Other generic words for boy are <chara> or <chora> and <larka>, and, for
girl, <chari or chori> and <larki> are also in current usage. The word for wife
<bahu> is usually reserved for daughter-in-law.
Household Items and Things
Many common terms now in use in Urdu/Hindi are actually Munda words, and
some, such as <ghar> house, were classified as IE words. Others are as follows:
<jagah> place, <khirki> window, <kiwar> door, <bichauna> bedding, <gadda>
cushion, <khapra> roof tiles, <patra> plank, <bhatti> oven, <sirhi> ladder,
<jhonpra> hut, <inta> brick, <gali> lane. Household items include many Munda-
derived words such as the following: <balti> bucket, <lota> water pitcher, <bora,
thaila> bag, <ghara> water storage in a pot of clay, <tokri> basket, <pankha> fan,
<arsi> mirror, <dora> string, and <koyla> coal. Money items include <taka> rupee,
<paisa> penny, and some sharp objects, <talwar> sword and <churi> knife.
Social Culture and Feelings
A limited number of examples will suffice to get an idea: fear <dar>, appetite
<bhuk>, adversary <bairi>, good <bhala>, love <dular>, beautiful <sohan, sohana>,
distress <udas>, gossip <gap>, conversation <gal>, the last one being more specific
to Punjabi. Others are holiday <chutti>, address <pata, thikana>, bell <ghanta>,
musical instrument <baja>, mad <pagal>, quiet <cup>, straight <sidha>, tall
<lamba>, thin <patla>, and elegance <camak>.
General Adjectives and Adverbs
Commonly utilized words in social and intellectual life are as follows: accurate
or correct <thik>, at once <turat>, again <phir>, ample <dher>, before or first
<pehla>, bent <kubra>, careless or loose <dhila>, damp <gila or oda>, deep
<ghehra>, dim <dhudla>, deaf <behra>, enough <bas>, few <thora>, greedy
<lalci>, liar <jhuta>, burden <bojha>, light <halka>, slowly <dhirey>, open
<khula>, empty <suna>, covered <dhaka>, place (any) <jagha>, hollow <khokhla>.
Munda Verbs
Austric Munda verbs in modern Urdu, Hindi, and other dialects, i.e., Bengali,
Gujrati, etc., are numerous, and their quantity varies on a regional basis. So-called
“wheels” of the language, verbs from Munda, are a basic part of Urdu. As to the
degree of antiquity, not much is known. They must have evolved slowly, as languages
do, keeping pace with the evolving cultural system. But one thing is for sure: Austric-
Munda people, because of isolation in the hills, must have retained some significant
degree of purity in their language parallel to their relatively stagnant culture. So the
effect of outside (Dravidian and Aryan) languages may be relatively small, and
others, like Persian-Arabic, just minimal. Interestingly, many of these verbs (Table
IV.1) were originally considered as SKT and had surprised most scholars. This list,
which might surprise anybody, includes the words <kahna> to say, <cabana> to eat,
92
<dubna> to sink, <tairna> to swim, and <darna> to fear; these words may be several
thousand years older than SKT. Most entries (Table IV.1) are still in use throughout
the subcontinent. From these verbs, scores of other forms and idioms have had a mul-
tiplier effect to help boost the growth of Urdu/Hindi dictionaries. A very useful one is
lagana (# 35), meaning “to set” or “fix,” or in fact “sets,” or “a lot.” For example,
paer lagana – to plant a tree, is an example of simple work, and makhan (butter)
lagana “to flatter” or “curry favor,” is an idiom. Other senses include <lagana>
“desire” or “motivation,” or “to bring two persons or things close together”: lagan
may mean “marital engagement.” Lagan is also the word for an agricultural tax. An
Oscar-nominated Indian movie, “Lagaan,” 2002, pits British tax collectors against
farmers.
Other words (# 23, 29) <jorna> and <ghatana>, “to add” and “subtract” are
used in everyday life. Similar to <lagan> is # 28, <hona> “to be”, “become”, or
“happen” or “occur”, an extremely useful auxiliary verb. Word (# 1) <bajana> “to
strike”, ‘hit”, “to make sounds”, has assumed the specific meaning “to play a musical
instrument.” There is no exact equivalent in English, which uses play for games, and
music, and other senses. Bajana, a verb, has created a generic <baja> for “musical
instruments” and “band”. Other auxiliaries include <phelana> “to spread” or
“expand”, <pakarna> “to catch”, <jalana> “to burn”, <mitana> “to destroy” or
“wipe (out), ” and <samjhana> “to explain” and “understand.”
The Munda lexicon clearly provides the fundamentals of Urdu/Hindi. Dra-
vidian, the second thread of the DNA coil, has been almost equally generous towards
Urdu, as we will see next.
TableE IV.1
Austric Munda - Verbs in Urdu/Hindi
VERBS MEANING (S) VERBS MEANING (S)
1. bajana play musical instrument 27. garna entangle, fix
2. bacana save, protect 28. hona be, become, happen
3. bantna divide, distribute 29. jorna add, stick, bring together
4. hugatna suffer, bear 30. jalna burn, jealous
5. bhehlana sooth, amuse 31. jagharna quarrel, tight
6. bhulna forget, to error 32. jhutlana pretend, lie
7. bhejna to rend 33. khara hona stand
8. catna lick to eat 34. kahna say, tell
93
9. cabana chew and eat 35. lagana fix, set, implement
10. chantna prune, separate or remove 36. mitana erase, eliminate, destroy
11. cirhana irritate, disgust 37. pakarna catch, hold, arrest
12. carhana incite, climb, group 38. pherna change, reverse, cycle
13. cakhna taste, eat 39. phelana spread, expand
14. chorna separate, depart 40. pehcanna recognize
15. cirna split, incise, cut 41. phisalna slide, slip
16. chuna touch 42. phansna trap, entangle
17. dabana press, curb, overcome 43. phuslana flatter, make agreeable
18. dahelna panic, scare 44. raundna overun, crash
19. dubna drown, sink 45. ratna speak aloud, memorize
20. dantna scold, rebuke 46. ragarna rub, workhard, insist
21. dundhna search, find 47. samajhana explain, make decision
22. gherna encircle, surround 48. takhna tire
23. ghatana recrease, substract 49. thama hold, hold to stop
24. galkarna talk, speak 50. thairna stay, stop
25. ghusna enter, force in 51. tairna swim
26. girna fall 52. ujarna destroy
4.8 THE DRAVIDIAN PHASE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION
This phase and its remarkable linguistic family, the Dravidian cousins of
Elamite, is the second fundamental element in Urdu’s makeup and provides the SOV-
type syntax and also about 30% of Urdu’s vocabulary. Together with Munda, Dra-
vidian, in due course, must have created the first hybrid Mundravi or proto-Urdu, as
explained in the chronological figure II.1, revealing a cumulative evolution. This
evolving blend of languages and brew of two cultures created the so-called Indus
Valley civilization (IVC), a prosperous urban enterprise contemporary with Baby-
lonia and Elam. IVC is the first visible evidence of Indian culture; it contributed most
to the current Hindu religious system and has been wrongly presumed as Aryan. His-
torian Majumdar, in his earlier commenting on pre-Aryan Hindu culture, has this to
94
say: “The best in Indian culture is Aryan, and degraded, lowly non-Aryan is wrong.”
He is apparently right since this mistaken opinion may be found everywhere from the
graduate level classroom to the man in the street.
Popular opinion remains Aryo-centric and comes out sometimes even indi-
rectly. Prof. Chatterji, a faithful partisan of the Aryan origin of Bengali and Urdu/
Hindi, provides a glimpse of this when he states, “In our language, we have mainly
accepted in the north of India the Aryan speech, but this speech is deeply modified
and that on the lines of pre-Aryan languages.” This quotation from the 1960s tells us,
mistakenly, that the speech is basically an Aryan speech which was modified.
The basic belief on the streets remains strongly Aryo-centric, even among edu-
cated Dravidian speakers. Dr. Chatterji does explain this Aryo-centric attitude in his
earlier citation (#104) as due to some complex among Hindus, who, according to him,
“would find a secret pleasure in finding some kinship with Europeans and thinking
themselves to be the descendants of [Aryan] conquerors and civilizers.” Thus, the
average man in India, including Muslims, still maintains this warped mindset.
4.9 MIDDLE EASTERN ROOTS OF DRAVIDIAN PEOPLE
The first farmers of India, a people of Mediterranean stock, established hamlets

at Mehergarh and elsewhere in Baluchistan, Pakistan, and developed the IVC.
The IVC space, interactive with West Asia, had a population of about one
million and during its peak, around 2500-1800 BC, covered a large area in the east up
to Delhi, including Lothal in the state of Gujrat. Its main cities at Mohenjudaro and
Harrapa had a significant relationship with West Asian people, who had called India
“Melulua.” After its downfall (1700 BC) due to natural disasters and/or Aryan or
other invasion, the IVC centers were reduced to thousands of mounds (some as high
as 30 meters). Parpola cites Rig Veda authors discussing115 these mounds as “aban-
doned hamlets,” something that was also mentioned by Greek travelers. In the 1920s,
finally, these were discovered to be sites of IVC settlements.
Arco Parpola the leading authority on IVC divides its phases. An initial ace-
ramic phase began around 7000 BC when people farmed wheat and barley, herded
cattle, and used mud bricks. Two thousand years later, the varieties of cattle had
expanded, farming included dates, and large granaries were used to store surpluses.
The ability to smelt copper (learned around 5000–3500 BC) brought in the knife,
blades, hooks, wheels, irrigation, cotton, pottery, and painted ceramics. In the next
phase at Harrapa (a city in Punjab) between 3000 BC and 1800 B.C, one finds popu-
lation growth, movements of people, and growth of trade with West Asia over land
routes. Trade items include necklaces, cornelian jewelry, high-quality ceramics, and
baked bricks, an Elamite technology which led to the development of underground
sewage systems for cities (the first of its kind in the world). Disruption of overland
trade, perhaps due to political disturbances in Elamite Iran, opened the sea trade
which is mentioned in recent (1976) Sumerian records, which incidently also men-
115. Arco Parpola (1994), pp. 3-13.
95
tions the presence of Indians in Sumeria. This record even mentions the export of
cotton fabrics prized in West Asia. Cotton remains a key export of the Pakistan area
even now.
4.10 DRAVIDIAN RELIGION AND CULTURE
There is a general academic acceptance inclusive of this author that pre-Aryan

peoples, Dravidians included, contributed far more than Aryan people to Hindu reli-
gious ideas and culture. Indeed, great many Hindu legends, Puranic myths of Rama
and Krishna, the concept of divinities like Siva, holy rivers, philosophical ideas of the
soul, and yoga practices have pre-Aryan origins. Aryan people adopted them and
recycled them through their language, SKT. The evidence for this, however, is not
direct, due to the absence of written records. But it is unthinkable that an advanced
culture at the level of IVC (and more urbanized than West Asia) would not leave
written records. Indus Valley seals with some writing, most recently deciphered by
Parpola, seem to indicate the names of Dravidian divinities and not much more.
Elamite seals, similar to IV seals in appearance, have also remained undeciphered.
The Elamite, though, had switched to cuneiform; their Dravidian cousins never did.
Thus, there is every evidence of continuity of a social/cultural system from the
Ganges Valley to the Mediterranean basin, even in those ancient days, as succinctly
elaborated by Dr. Chatterji in one of his earlier citations (#104):
The Mohenjo-Daro civilization shows noteworthy Mediterranean and West
Asian affinities. The wide tract of country from Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, and
Iran, as well Sumerian Chaldea, shows in the pre-historic times one type of culture,
or rather a group of cultures, with some common elements.
Meanwhile, Parpola characterizes IVC as a law-abiding society with a tax
system, an organized kingship and religious life based on temple and priests, an
extension from West Asia. Indus folks also followed the matriarchal system of their
cousins, the Elamite. Marriages among cousins and with maternal uncles were per-
mitted, and are still in vogue among South Indians and modern Dravidians.
Their numerical system was a mixed one. They followed a binary, octonary,
and a decimal system which even remained in place up to the 20th century. It is rea-
sonable to assume that the sciences, mathematics, algebra, medicine, as discussed
under Sumeria were shared with the IVC, but the precise role of Indus Valley peoples
in their development is impossible to determine at this time, due to lack of records.
The imprints of West Asian affinity can be seen in the powerful priest/temple
culture of Sumeria, whose priests controlled temple rituals, material resources,
endowed property and even the temple prostitutes. The Indian system shows parallels
today, in the Devi-Dasi system of Babylonian temple women. God Shiva a known
Dravidian God represented by Shiva lingam stone is reminiscent of biblical Baal as
noted earlier.
Indus seals reveal a picture of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian epic hero, the
swastika cross, and a god resembling Shiva. Some Puranic epics and the story of the
flood seem to be quite similar to the Bible. One special goddess of the Elamite, a
96
squatting female giving birth,116 is also found on Indus seals. Her Elamite name, Kiri
Rishna117 or Kiri Risha, a fertility goddess, reminds us of Lord Krishna’s name, a
prophet of the Hindu epic, and not a Vedic personality. The latter is another direct evi-
dence of West Asia Dravidian affinities. The story of Krishna himself resembles that
of historical Sargon who, as an infant, was also placed in the river in a basket, and
was found and raised by foster parents, a similar parallel with the biblical Moses,
revealing the extent to which West Asian cultural ideas were shared.
The great god Shiva (a non-Aryan deity) is seen as Yogi on the Indus seals, the
master of animals, pasu pati. According to Chatterji, the Dravidian god of the
mountain was Aryanized as Rudra, the roarer. Siva, according to him, is derived from
Tamil Sivan, meaning “red,” and sembu means “the red metal [copper].” So, Siva
became Shembhu, and a bit later, in the purana epic, he is found as Rudra-Siva or
Mahadeva (great god). The term “siva” may even have multiple origins, the oldest
being from Hittite (Table III.3).
In general, most animal symbols in India are West Asian, so is the worship of
cows, bulls, serpants etc., these items of Mesopotamian culture were passed into Hin-
duism perhaps during this phase. Indus seals are loaded with these symbols. The
monkey god, Hanuman of Ramayana epic, Hindu’s holy book derived from Purana’s
epic, also seems to have Dravidian roots. The Tamil word for male monkey, an-
mandi, got corrupted to hanuman (monkey god of Ramayan epic) in due course of
time. Elamites, famous for animal figures and snakes as divine, seem to have passed
on the cult of snakes, to Hinduism. Another god is Vishnu, part of Hindu’s trinity, and
supposedly a creator, in contrast to Siva, the destroyer which began as the Dravidian
sky god, vin, meaning “sky” in Tamil, according to Chatterji. The caste system and
yoga practices are also supposedly Dravidian contributions to current Hinduism.
Above and beyond various terms of Hinduism rooted in a Dravidian past, <puja>
worship ritual, <mandir> temple, and <Brahmin>, among many others, are from the
Dravidian language.
4.11 PROTO-DRAVIDIAN IN PROTO-URDU
The proto-Dravidian (PDR) speakers, after splitting from their PED ancestors,
moved into the Indus Valley, bringing farming and other high technology and, appar-
ently, a richer language. The hybrid Mundravi might have evolved all over India.
Clearly, three language streams, two relatively pure, proto-Munda and its dialects and
PDR with its dialects, and the hybrid, interacted with each other for several thousand
years. It cannot be ascertained whether Mundravi ever became the lingua franca, but
it remains a possibility.
The Dravidian family, now mainly confined to the south of India and spoken by
about 25% of Indians, had existed as PDR. According to Prof. McAlpine,118 PDR
116. A. H. Dani and V. M. Masson (1992), pp. 294–295.

117. Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia III p. 824.
118. David W. McAlpine (1981), p. 20.
97
gradually differentiated into a northern, central, south central, and southern variant,
and covered the whole Indian subcontinent. They still exist even now. Brahui, with
some limited literature, is spoken in the hills of Baluchistan and Kurux, Malto in
Bengal, and Jharkhand, and Orissa in the east. In the central provinces, we have
Kolpa, Kolami, and Parji in the hill tracts. The south central branch of PDR consists
of Telugu, Kui, and Gond; Telugu is the largest of the Dravidian languages and has a
significant amount of literature. Gond, covering the hilly tract, had extended all the
way up to the city of Gonda in U.P. The southern branch has three dialects, Tamil,
Malayalam, and Kannada, and has an enormous amount of literature. They are desig-
nated as the official languages of Tamilnadu (formerly Madras), Kerala, and Kar-
nataka states of India. Most of the PDR dialects of the north were absorbed in Urdu-
Punjabi, Gujrati, etc., but the grammar and vocabulary remain transparent.
4.12 LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF PDR OR DRAVIDIAN (DR)
Dravidian languages, being agglutinating types, use affixes, the words con-
sisting mainly of nouns, verbs; and clitics, i.e., a nasal sound, “am,” follows the word,
e.g., <pur > puram. There are no particles as found in the Munda family. However,
Dravidian does resemble Uralic, Turkish, Basque, the Caucasian groups, Celtic, and
the language of pre-Aryan Greece, Crete. Its hallmark, agglutination, links it to
ancient Sumerian, Elamite, Hurrian-Mittanni, and others. PDR growth in India influ-
enced by the Munda family must have included an increase of consonants from 12 in
Elamite (cf. Chapter III) to somewhere closer to 18, seen in modern Tamil. Vowels
also multiplied from 4 in Elamite to around 12 under Austric influence. Phonetically
it acquired perhaps the new sounds of b and g and also v. But the problem of discrim-
inating b/p, k/g and t/d persisted, as seen in Dravidian successors.
Nasalization, a holdover from ancient Austric speakers, seen among West
Asians and Elamite, persisted with Munda speakers. PDR later on developed to
acquire very distinctive Indian features, the retroflexes, i.e., hard t (time), d (dog) and
compound ligatures ph, bh, th, dh, etc., (cf chapter II). Pronominal Dravidian endings
with the suffix n for singular and m for plural, and the gender system with suffix i,
i.e., Devi for female and ta as in devta for male, are also clearly Indian. An important
DR feature shared with Semitic is the use of double consonants, called Tasdeed, in
Urdu/Arabic. Many of these features were incorporated and/or modified in the devel-
oping hybrid, including Mundravi, as well as in the new arrival, SKT.
4.13 FIRST HYBRID-MUNDRAVI (PROTO-PKT/URDU)
This first lingua franca, a hypothetical one, in essence, maintained its Austric
grammar, acquired and/or co-authored retro-flex consonants and grew in vocabulary
along with evolving cultural and religious practices, and provided Indian loan words
for items such as, pig, ox, dog; peacock, crow, water, river (ganga), bread, etc., to
Vedic-SKT. It is impossible though to reconstruct this lost hybrid language, which
would have taken about 6,000 years to develop out of interaction between DR and
98
Munda (fig. II. 2). But Dravidian linguists119 do identify some trends which accel-
erated towards its advancements to become so-called Prakrit, after 1000 BC.
Relevant to the study of proto-Urdu and Urdu may be the evolution of the
future tense, auxiliary particles, ga = will. Prof. B. Laxmi Rai and colleagues,120
working on old Tamil, and Dr. Kota, explain as follows:
Old Tamil Kota
I will show kattu k`en kat-gen
I will catch Parr k. e-nPat-gen
Gen (will) perhaps changed to ga (will) and its other forms — gi (she will),
gein- female plural, and gey-masculine plural — followed.
Double consonants, cc, tt, etc., a Dravidian feature absorbed in Vedic-SKT
early on, were gradually simplified or reduced in proto-Urdu and Urdu as in the fol-
lowing examples:
Dravidian Proto-Urdu or Urdu
kattiyal (cot) katia (cot)
Bhatta bhat (food)
muttum moti (pearl)
kumbbaaro kumhar (potter)
SKT words with this feature went through this process as well:
aggi > ? agni > ? ag (fire)
agga (front or next) > ? agra or agla (next)
manassu > ? manas > ? man (mind)
dhanussu > ? dhanus (bow)
4.14 DRAVIDIAN-SUFFIXES/PARTICLES IN URDU
Suffixes are used copiously in Dravidian, sometimes even without alteration of

the meaning of the basic word. Some of these, perhaps, started to have some sense in
proto-Urdu later, and are current in Urdu/Hindi as particles. The suffix -cci added to
Akka (elder brother), Akka-cci or anna-cci (elder sister), does not change the
meaning.121 But cci, phonetically “see,” serves as a qualifying particle in Urdu now:
ma - see – (“like mother”) used for maternal aunt
acchi - see – (Good looking)
hari - see (Greenish)
Another example of this process operates in a slightly different context; in
another Dravidian word in Konda, bi pronounced be, meaning “elder sister,” some-
times is doubled up as bibi with no implied change in its sense. In Urdu, bi or biji is
still used for “elder sister”, or “elder ladies and mothers,” but bibi or bivi is used for
“a wife.”
119. Bai B. Lakshmi and B. Ramkrishna Reddy (1991), pp. 255–262.

120. Ibid. pp. 22–49.
121. Ibid. pp. 13–20.
99
Suffixes, such as Ta and Mal, from Dravidian, without implied change, used in
addressing the relationship,122 are now absorbed in Urdu as particles. Examples are
as follows: jan (people), ? janta (people); sunder (beautiful), sunder-ta (beauty).
And in verbs it is used as an auxiliary, i.e., kar-ta (does), kha-ta (to eat), cal-ta
(walks), etc. Further modification created the feminine singular, ti and masculine and
the feminine plurals, tey and tein, respectively, as in the examples <cal-tey> “they
(men) walk”, <cal-ti> “(she) walks”, <cal-tien> “they (women) walk”. Mal denotes
“man” or “person” equivalent in English words like waterman, longman, workman.
In Urdu/Hindi it may also indicate “some affinity with” or “origin from” etc. Many
proper names are common to the two languages, for example: suraj-mal, chand-mal
relate to the sun and moon, respectively, and in Todar-mal, the famous finance min-
ister of Emperor Akbar, a caste or clan todar is implied. Mal may even be used to
name a non-human. A bug named for its location in the khat or cot or bed frame is
famous as khat-mal. Dravidian, though free of particles, has certainly helped in its
creation under the influence of Austric-Munda. Besides ta, mal, particles in Persian
(chapter 5); a few from DR are:
Pronominal Particles
ka : <us-ka>his
ki : <us-ki> her
ko : <us-ko> to him or to her
ke : <us-ke> for him
Some words and participles as suffixes:

<para> “fall” – i.e. <gir-para>“fell”
<uth-para> “got up”
<jana> “to go” – i.e. <gir-jana>“to fall”
<–o> <ja-o> “(you) go”
<–ya> <kha–ya> “ate”, <di–ya> “gave”.
4.15 VOCABULARY LOANS TO URDU/HINDI
Mutual loans between Munda, Dravidian, and their hybrid daughter, Mundravi
or proto Urdu/Hindi, have been a phenomena (fig. II. 2) of several thousands of years.
A copious list from DED includes besides, fauna, place, name, nouns, and adjectives,
a significant number of verbs which are current today. About one hundred of these
verbs, together with another hundred plus from Munda, drive Urdu/Hindi today. A
mutual loan between Munda and Dravidian has created confusion among linguists-
historians sometimes, but they represent the antiquity and valued utility in Urdu/
Hindi.
Relationship Words
Reflection of higher culture does appear here in the relationship of names. The
oldest name for mother, Amma, from Sumerian in DR resonates all over, as Umm
122. Ibid. pp. 13-20.
100
(Arabic), mom, etc. Other names of family relationships, together with those from
Munda, essentially had completed the list prior to Aryan’s arrival. The SKT word
matr has the same root, and the word mata, sometimes used, is a compound of ma and
ta (particles discusses above). Examples that follow are all from DED. They are
current in so-called Indian culture and need no elaboration.
The word is in Urdu followed by its DR equivalent then its English meaning.
The names of the DR language and DED number are omitted for brevity. The list is as
follows: <abba-appa> father, <bibi, bivi–bi, bibi> wife, <tayi-tayi> grandmother,
<apa, appi–appi> elder sister, <mama–maama> maternal uncle, <mami-maami>
maternal aunt, <beta, beti–peda, pedi> son, daughter, <putr, pota, putri, poti–putalva,
putalvi> also used for son, daughter, and grandchildren, <bhaiya, bhai–paiya,
paiyal> brother, <nand–nandani> husband’s sister, and <sala–salum> brother-in-law.
Besides the words mentioned, we have generic and some adjectives conveying rela-
tionships; they are also used as name aliases. These are: <chota, choti–cittu> small
boy and girl, <bara, bari–berto, berti> big boy and girl, <burha, burhi–pedda-peddi>
old man and woman. The word kuri and kura, for girl and boy, in DED discussed
under Munda, must be a mutual loan.
Another DR word <munda> used as slang for boy, though used more in
Punjabi, is rooted in the harmlessness of a young calf with no horns; it also conveys
baldness. And the Punjabi word <praji–paraye>, meaning “elder brother,” is also
Dravidian.
Names, Places, Professions, and Groups
Many names like puram, and kot that have been discussed earlier under Munda
also appear in DED, but are pre-Dravidian. Others, such as nadu or nad, are DR, i.e.,
Tamil-nadu or Tamil country is the current name of former Madras state in South
India. This word group (DED # 36 and 38), natam, nattam, natvar, nath, is used for a
variety of themes, such as county, city, chief (nattam) person, god, boss, etc. A
common derivative in Urdu/Hindi, nath, thrives in Hindu surnames, e.g., Rajnath,
and name of temples Sar-nath, Somnath, etc. Other important terms are well known
and current and are as follows: <Brahman-parappan> Brahman priest, <nagar–
nakar> city, country, <kutia, kotha, kuti, kuta> house, gives us kotwal, kotwali, which
means police chief and his station, <pul–polam> bridge is also shared with Persian;
<patti–pati> meaning a hamlet, or village. From this word, (DED # 4046) came
names, e.g. Patna, Patan, Patiala and title of village official Patwari or patel, a
common surname in Gujrat; <raja–arachan> (DED # 201), meaning King has hun-
dreds of uses, is a mutual loan between DR and SKT, <quli–kuli> meaning hired
laborer and shared with Elamite and Persian, has become specific for railway porters,
<kabari–kappade> dealer in small used things, utensils, <Kumhar–kumbbaro> potter,
and <ahir–avir> cow herd from avu (cow in Sumerian and DR), indicates other pro-
fessions. From this small sample Urdu/Hindi has spun offs of hundreds of words.
Fruits, Vegetables, Edibles, and Animals
Dravidian and Munda share almost all the fruits and vegetables name terms;
but for the term rice in DED perhaps are Munda words. Some DR samples are as
follows:
101
<am-mage> mango, <phal-phalam> fruit, <phool-pool> flower, <paer-paeri>

tree, <chawal-areche> rice, <narangi-narengi> oranges, <sandal-cantam> san-
dalwood, <papar-pappatam> pappadam; the last four are universal and are used in
every language, <ganna–ganna> sugar cane, <muli-mula> radish, <bij-bija> seed.
Popular food items are: <capati-capat> means thin bread, thin wafer made by
clapping with dough in between the palms of the hands. The actual meaning is “being
slapped, or to clap,” which is shared with Persian; <ras-rasam> juice, watery soup,
<tulsi-tulasi> a herb sacred to Hindus, <urad-urdu> a kind of white lentil, <bhat-
bhatta> cooked rice, <karhi-kadi> curd, flour with soup and spices, (curry is more
popular); <pani-pani> water, <khatta-kati> pickle, <sakar-charkaii> sugar, common
in every Indian language.
Common animal names include <gada-gadida> ass, <ghora-ghurram> horse,
and <billi-bille> cat.
Household Things
Some of the terms, such as cot has been derived from <khatia> and is well
known. In fact, many common everyday use items and structure are Dravidian in
origin. Some are listed: <khamba–kampa> pillar, <kutia-kuti> hut; or home, <peyty–
pettis> box, <moti-mutta> pearl. Some household utensils too have Dravidian names;
<matka-madaka> a large eastern pot to store water, <thali–tari> a metal plate,
<chalni–challu> sieve, <tala–talmu> lock and key, <nal–nol> water faucet,
<chaddhi-caddi> underwear, <dhoti–datti> garment from the waist down, <gota–
gotu> lace for borders, <anchal–ancu> shirt border; <chappal–caruppu> slipper,
sandal, <salai–cilleli> needle, <murli–mural> flute, which literally means to sing,
make sound, <mala–malaku> necklace, <curi–curi> spiral bangles, <danda–dandu>
stick or stem of plants.
Adjectives
One of the most widely used Dravidian words is <kala–karu> for black (DED
# 1395) in Urdu/Hindi with hundred of spin offs; i.e., kala bazar, kala admi (man) etc;
it may be of Munda origin or a mutual loan; other common ones are <mota–mottam>
bulley, big in size or status, <pola–pol> hollow, <karva–karu> pungent, <khar–kar>
anger, enmity, <hasan–Hasa> beautiful, charming (a mutual loan from Arabic/
Semitic), <choka–chokkam> pure, excellent (traceable to PED and Semitic zukka),
<phula–pulla> swollen up. Others are: <purana–parana> meaning old, is the root for
puran, Hindu’s religious mythical book, <mugga–maga> dumb person, <catur–
catur> clever, skillful, <cikna–cikani> smooth liquid or surface, <kuch kuch–kacu
kacu> to say something originally but used as equivalent of the same. Other common
adjectives are <chota> small, <bara> big, which have been discussed as above under
relationships; another useful one <kacca-kacu> means unripe or uncooked.,
<guchcha–kuccu> flower bunch.
102
Table IV.2A
Urdu Verbs from Dravidian
URDU ENG. MEANING DRAV (LANGUAGES) DED #
1. ana to come, be, happen a, an, ayi (ta) 333
2. jana move, go jari (ka), cari (ta) 2360
3. calna walk, move cel (ta) 2781
4. bolna speak, say a word polo (go) pola (ma) 4304
5. bulana call, invite pulavu (ta) 4304
6. pukarna praise, applaud pukar (ta) 4235
7. cillana angry, roar, yell cilai (ta) 1574
8. bat karna chatter, converse vataru (ta) 5244
9. *bayan karna narrate, reasoning vayanam (ta) 5256
10. *banana make, fashion, form vanai (ta), vanu (te), ban (ka) 5327
11. *bida karna release, separate bidu (ka) vitu (ta) 5393
12. parhna speak, read aloud parai (ta) 4031
13. puchna speak, ask, converse pecu (ta), peccu (ma) 4430
14. pujna worship pecu (ta), peccu (ma) 4430
15. dhakna conceal, cover dacu (te) 63
16. manna excellence man (te), manu (te) 4803
17. muskarana smile muskarna (kur) 4904
18. *khareeda buy, purchase xendna (kur), quenda (mal) 2001
19. *dagna burn, blaze, to light daggana (ka), dagna (kur) 2990
20. katna bite, eat, cut kati (ta) 1124
21. khana morsel, mouthful kadi (te) 1125
22. marna finish, exhaust mar (go) 4816
23. hatana destroy, demolish atu (ta) 347
24. *karna to do, act kar (br), keyta (ka), kiana (go) 1957
25. morna bend, fold more (ta) 4645

* ta-Tamil, te-Telugu, ka-Kannda, to-Toda, ku-Kurux, ma-Malayalam, mal-Malto ko-Kolami, go-Gond, br-Brahui Ded #
(entry # in Dravidian Etymological Dictionary)
* shared with Arabic and Persian
103
Table IV.2B
Urdu Verbs from Dravidian
URDU ENG. MEANING DRAV (LANGUAGES) * DED #
26. bhagna Flee, run away bongna (kur), bonge (malt) 4473
27. uthna rise, get away ode (ta) 851
28. urna fly, rise od (ta), eru (ka) 851
29. *jhara Sweep jaru (ku), caral (ta) 2482
30. chimatna punch, squeeze cimintu (ha) 2540
31. upperana Bloat, rise, boil uppu (ta) 666
32. ubalna boil over ubbu (te), ub (to) 666
33. parna lie down patu (ta), padu (ka) 3852
34. kudna jump, escape kuthe (ta), gudi (ka) 1705
35. uchakna lift, move up ucaram (ta), ocakhe (kol) 646
36. nikalna occur, pass nikar (ta) 3661
37. bhokna perforate, pierce poku (ta), bokke (te) 4452
38. phulna blister, swelling pollu (ta) 4503
39. cheelna peel a fruit cilikka (ta), cilna (pa) 2585
40. tairna swim, float telu (ta), teler (ga) 3464
41. cugna pick, borrow cugna (kur), cug (malt) 2719
42. ladna spoil, kiss, fondle londinai (kuw) 3887
43. takrana Strike, smash takar (ta) 2999
44. pharna tear, separate parte (ta) 3962
45. peetna strike, beat up pettu (ka) 4389
46. torna pound, break tarna (ku), tari (ta) 3040
47. kutna strike kottu (ta) 2063
48. thokna push, nail tukkna (kur) 3286
49. khodna dig kadi (ka) 1125
50. phenkna pluck, root out piku (ka), piku (te) 4212
51. *parakhna inspect, discriminate par (ta), parkka (ma) 4091

ta-Tamil, te-Telugu, ka-Kannada, to-Toda, ku-Kurux, ma-Malayalam, mal-Malto ko-Kolami, go-Gond, br-Brahui Ded #
(entry # in Dravidian Etymological Dictionary)
* shared with Arabic and Persian
104
Body Parts
There are only a limited number of words, but they are interesting and sur-
prising as a source; DR <haddi–haddi> meaning “bone” exists only in Brahui; <tond–
tonde>, pot belly, <masa–massu> mole or blemish, seems to be shared with Persian,
<kan–kannam> ear, <coti–cotti> hair lock, tuft of hair, <guda–gudda> pulp of fruits,
but used for bone marrow and brain also. It also occurs in Persian with the same
sense.
Social-Cultural-Intellectual Life
Etymology, with respect to this aspect, is significant and parts of it included in
the verb table (Table IV. 2), will be discussed later. But the non-verbal variety of Dra-
vidian lexicon in Urdu is no less. For example, the word <dhar, dharam–dhoda, dora>
meaning religion ( DED # 3543) comes out from the sense of streams, water
channels, and corrupted as dhara in Urdu/Hindi. <mandir–manara, mandu> meaning
temple (DED # 4776) originally meant house, assembly hall; another sense in it
mandi meaning village green, seems to be the basis for the Urdu word <mandi>,
meaning market or mart. The words <pundit> learned person or scholar, and <puja>
worship as mentioned earlier have DR root verbs (Table IV. 2. A).
There are plenty of other examples: <manush–manusan> (meaning man) is the
basis for the name of the prophet Manu, Hindu’s Adam perhaps from <man> soil in
Dravidian (DED # 4666). Others include <roop–rupam> appearance, looks; and
<bal–val>, meaning power and strength, created Urdu’s <balwa> riot, power-contest
and <balwai> a rioter, etc.; <thand–tan> coldness, is familiar;<bheek–beko, bekum>
desire, and to seek, has come to mean begging and <bhikari> means beggar; <maut–
mati> death; <murli–mural> flute, originally meant to sing, has a spin off as Murali,
an alias for Lord Krishna, who played the flute, and a familiar proper name. But the
DR word for a flute itself and/or musical instrument <suruli–DED # 2694> seems to
have created the Urdu word <sur> tune, <sureeli> good singing voice. Then we have
<bheer–bidu, per> crowd, assembly, <rat–iratu, ra> night; <kona–kontu, konda>
corner, but also means <kanta> twisted hook, <konr> meaning angle in SKT; other
spin-offs (corner, cornice in Greek and English) from the Sumerian root are well
known. Three other useful DR words are great “spinners” in Urdu/Hindi. They are
<kala–kala> a generic for any art or craft, <coomna–cumpo> meaning kiss, suck,
creates <cumbak> meaning magnet, and the third one meaning love <praim, prem> in
Urdu is DR <perima, parivu>; spin offs are numerous and include <premi, piya, pi,
preetam> meaning lover or love as pronoun and many personal names. Prem Kumar,
Preetam Singh, Piyarey Lal and in Priti Patel have the same root. Number eight <ath-
ettu> of IE and also the number one, <onna>, (DED #990) are DR.
4.16 DRAVIDIAN VERBS IN URDU
A total of about 100 verbs with numerous spin-offs, together with those from
Munda, seem to have created the bulk of Urdu/Hindi, everything required for a lit-
erary language. Some fifty entries in the table (IV. 2a and 2b) include DR equivalents.
105
They all represent common everyday speech and are easily identifiable and straight-
forward. Many were loaned into SKT also.
The first three, ana, jana, and calna to mean coming, going and walking, are
basic verbs. These DR roots are shared with Persian as well; # two cari creates a Urdu
noun <gari> transport vehicle or car in fact an Elamite root cel cal, has other
numerous creations i.e., <cal> walking, step; <calan> manners, <calak> driver,
<calu> a street smart, fast mover; in Arabic and Persian <jari> has parallel meanings.
Numbers 4-7 have a sense of talking/calling but with # 7 this is done aloud <cil-
lanana>. Verbal root vataru # 8, creates conversation equivalent bat and vatt in
Punjabi (cf. Gal in Munda). To narrate, DR gave Urdu the word <bayan # 9>
statement or narrative. <banana # 10>, another basic one, an Arabic loan is used as
auxiliary for numerous idioms, i.e., roti-banana, makan banana means “making
bread, and house,” respectively. <bida karna> to separate or saying farewell creates
<bida-ei> farewell, <bid-wha> means a widow. <pujna and parna> 12, 14, we have
discussed earlier; parna besides the Urdu word Pundit, spins others, i.e. <pathak>
student, <path> study lesson, <path shala> school, etc. via SKT grammar.
Numbers 15-23 are straight forward, <karna> #24 meaning, to do, also Persian
<kardan> has numerous spins including <karma> or work record with religious
undertone. Number 16 <manna> is also useful auxiliary, i.e., <bura manna> dislike.
Urdu word <uthana and urna> means to rise and ascend has some root basics and
extends to flying as well; same in Persian and similar sense drives # 31 and 32 and
include <ubalna> to boil, <tairna> # 40, meaning swimming is a mutual loan with
Munda. Words numbered 43-50 expressing some violence and physical labor,
perhaps appeared with farming and require no elaboration. Hundreds of spin offs
from these dominate Urdu/Hindi and almost all language in India. <parakhna>
meaning to inspect or discriminate has a common surname in Parikh, shared with
Arabic, Farq and Farooq, etc.
Some words of the table include <jharna–jaru> meaning shedding or shipping,
also means sweeping; and its compliment <jharu> a broom. Another interesting
(DED # 2684) verb centers around curling a spiraling and screw, etc. various DR
entries are <curul, suruli, silir> means curl, rolls, wrap around, go around etc; the
sense has created Urdu word <curi> bangle and screw ridges, and English word
cherot, and perhaps suruli created the wrap around for the traditional famous dress of
the sari.
4.17 SOUND WORDS (ONOMATOPOEIA)
Words generated by copying various sound, i.e., of running water, knocking,

animals, etc., in Urdu are quite large and almost exclusively derived from Dravidian;
SKT is free of them. Most are utilized as verbs, some examples are as follows: <khat
khat> knocking, <bar-bar> loud talk, <khar-khar> snoring, <phar-phar> flying bird,
<thak-thak>, <than-than> metal utensil, <sar-sar> wind blowing, <dham > falling on
the floor, <ghar-ghar> thunder, <car-car> cracking of wood, <cir-cir> irritated tone in
conversation, <jhar-jhar> the flow of water.
106
4.18 MUNDRAVI-PROTO-URDU
From the preceding review of Munda and Dravidian loans to each other and
their hybrid proto-Urdu, it becomes clear that the hybrid must have acquired quite a
vocabulary. Having had its own grammar and syntax, it must have been a great
evolving lingua franca. With abundant particles and pronouns, and verbs, it must have
been an active, free wheeling language. Its accent must have varied in various
regions. In the absence of SKT’s intrusion, in fact Mundravi would have grown
unhindered. It is really surprising how the linguists in the face of a massive vocab-
ulary, had proposed the origin of Urdu/Hindi, Bengali, and others from Vedic SKT.
Chatterji123 starts this from 2500 BC, from IE through PII, down to the NIA stage at
more than AD 1000. Obviously he played to an indigenous audience with a mythical
faith in SKT.
Mundravi speech, however, cannot be captured, but it did provide the farmers
and other citizens with enough vocabulary. An average English farmer needs about
800 words and an Indian certainly would not be handicapped with about 500–800.
Mundravi must have had more than 800 words (there is a lot more in Urdu/Hindi
from Mundravi than analyzed above).
A good way to assess Urdu/Hindi is to study the content of pure SKT words or
“TatSams” (TS) in some literature. We obviously do not have much data in this regard
in Urdu or Hindi literature. Bengali literature, however, has been analyzed by Dr.
Chatterji. It does provide the evidence that the role of TS words of SKT has been
rather limited, even in the religious literature; although in 19–20th century Bengali
was packed with TS words. His results are summarized:124
Bengali words (carya-pada (10-20th century)
Total # of words 1957–with 5% TS
Shri Krishna Kirittana of Chandidas
(After 17th century). Total words 863–with 12.5% TS
Bankim Chatterji’s “Indira”
(19–20th century) Total 696 words with 20% TS
In early Bengali, which was hardly different than eastern Urdu/Hindi, TS were
only 5%. With the rise of Sanskrit-philia in 19–20th century, Bankim Chatterji
packed up TS words, up to 20%; in his novel, Indira and Tagore went up to 40% in
his work. This indeed was artificial and programmed, as in the earlier work of a reli-
gious nature, Kirittana; TS count was only 12.5%. Prof. Chatterji recognized that TS
words are few and scanty in modern colloquial Bengali. In this assessment, he reports
a high percent of even Persian words 7–14% in Bengali. The percentage of TS words
in Urdu/Hindi is also small as noted earlier in chapter II.
Despite his open position on SKT and NIA genetic linkages, Prof. Chatterji
does make a confession regarding the fundamental role of DR in all NIA, in their
phonetics, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary;125 and he even admits that the MIA
123. S. K. Chatterji (1972), p. 1053.

124. Ibid. pp. 218–224.
107
and NIA languages, i.e., Urdu/Hindi, Gujarati, etc., are not strictly derived from the
language of Rig Veda or Classical SKT,126 which itself had been deeply influenced
by DR and Austric-Munda, pre-Aryan languages.
In conclusion, it is noteworthy that the detailed composition of Mundravi is
pretty much in academic concordance with the position of India’s foremost linguist.
Thus, based on what is covered in this chapter, this ancient unknown hybrid, Mun-
dravi, can be visualized as a linguistic Indian glue, binding the four corners of India.
And because of this pan-Indian ancient speech, Urdu/Hindi, even in south India, is
not as alien as many believe. Two great examples of this glue is the ease with which
Jain, Buddhist religions and Pali, spread and also Urdu/Hindi in the South after the
13th century. A modern example is the popularity of Urdu/Hindi cinema and music in
the south, because of a shared grammar and vocabulary.
The chapter reviews the first two foreign languages Munda and Dravidian to
adopt India, laying the foundations for all modern Indian languages, including Urdu/
Hindi. The chapter recognizes the two fundamental elements, Munda and Dravidian,
which must have created the “unknown” hybrid, proto-Urdu/Hindi or Mundravi,
which must have served as a glue, binder, or lingua franca of South Asia, prior to the
arrival of SKT speakers. Copious example of words from Munda and Dravidian in
modern Urdu concludes this chapter on proto-Urdu. SKT, the third foreign language
which came a few thousand years later, is discussed next.
125. Ibid. p. 64.

126. Ibid. pp. 36–37.
108
CHAPTER V. SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT AND OLD-URDU/HINDI
5.0 INTRODUCTION
The arrival of Vedic Aryans from West Asia (~1000 BC) marks the advent of
SKT and the evolution of proto-Urdu, or Mundravi, to Old Urdu, better known as
PKT (s), (fig. II.1). This phase, running up to almost AD 1000, covers the mutual
interaction of the two streams, two grammar types, and also the appearance of Brah-
minic-Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The last two had patronized PKT (s) as the
oldest divine language, confronting SKT. The evolution of SKT/PKT, the clash
between Hinduism and Buddhism, and political linguistics prepared the Indian
psyche for the future Indo-Europeanism and Urdu/Hindi division under the mythical
mask.
5.1 WRITTEN RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS
A basic understanding of Hinduism is essential to grasp these linguistic issues.

But its concepts are rooted in Mesopotamia, like other religions; and like many it
lacks authentic historical records. The oldest records (280 BC) of the Asokan period
in PKT were lost and scripts were forgotten. Records of religion and science that
reappeared afresh in 3–5th century AD in SKT were written in a different script
(Gupta alphabets), a derivative of PAS. Even the Greek script, although older than
SKT and Hebrew, does not precede Herodotus (~450 BC). Thus, in most systems,
authenticity and antiquity are essentially based on oral myths and traditions.
However, most of the essential ideas, i.e., of god (s), goddesses, sun and moon gods,
soul, creation, flood/deluge, afterlife, human right, social justice, rule of law, reli-
gious rituals, sacrifices, temple-priest system, idols/icons, and animal worship, ideas
of caste system or division of labor (priest, ruler, workers, scribes, slaves (lowest
caste), healing art or magic, hymns etc. that belong to the past though current in the
Judeo-Christian, Islamic, and Hindu systems, were part of recorded history of some
3000 years but lost by Alexander’s time.
109
The period of 500 years (500 BC – AD 1), a critical bridge of history, is marked
by Alexander’s invasion and dismemberment of his empire and its consequences.
West Asian science had passed into Greek and Indian tradition and/or writings. A
medical historian comments,127 “Later, when only Greek languages could be read by
scholars, it was believed that Greeks were the father of medicine,” although Hero-
dotus and Greek scholars, such as Thales, Pythagoras, etc., had credited Babylon for
Greek learning. Other significant development of this phase is self-awareness of Jews
as a sect, collection of Old Testament myths, and the history of Jesus; all were written
around AD 200 in Aramaic and Greek in west Asia. Asokan inscription in Aramaic,
and its derivative Brahmi and Kharosti (280 BC) of India also belong to this phase.
Thus man’s original religious and secular science created in West Asia, with
some modifications, reappeared in the scripts derived from PAS. But the most
important point to remember is that when the historical continuity or records are lost,
men try to fill the gaps by lapsed memories, myths, and hypotheses, and with even
claims of originality. Myths, by definition, are non-verifiable and cannot substitute
for historical facts. Hindu myths, like Islamic or Jewish myths, deserve respect, but
only as myths.
5.2 HINDUISM OR THE INDIAN RELIGIOUS SYSTEM (IRS)
Ideas brought by Austric-Munda folks, Dravidian farmers, and Aryan heroes

which gelled through millennia along with local metaphysical growth and practices
now constitute the Indian religious system. The most important books on the IRS
include the four Vedas and their commentaries, the Brahmanas, epics, law book of
Manu, Upanishads and Dhampada on Buddhism, besides numerous volumes by
grammarians and poets.
The author’s understanding of IRS is based on living through the system, per-
sonal clarification (s) from teachers, friends, scholars, and also consultations from
other resources, including commentaries. Seven essentials seem to constitute IRS.
These are: (1) Cyclical view of (Indo-Centric) creation; (2) One all-powerful god,
“Brahma,” but with a shared trinity expressing its attributes, i.e., Shiva the destroyer
and Vishnu the creator; (3) Primordial creation having started with four human kinds
representing the Varana (color) or the caste (hierarchal) system, Brahman, the priest/
educator born from the mouth of Brahma, warrior/ruler, Kshatriya from his arm,
Vaishya or Bania (merchant-worker) from his thigh/leg, and fourth, the lowest,
Shudra, meant for menial jobs, from the feet; (4) Transmigration of the soul, which
represents the essence of the self, or individual, may go through various life form (s)
as punishment, until liberated from the cycles as Nirvana, liberation or salvation,
which means union with the highest soul or god, the source; good conduct, or karma,
(Taqwa in Arabic) according to Dharma (prescribed rules), leads to salvation, liber-
ation, Mukti, or Mokscha; (5) Metem-Psychosis is the term defining the etiology of
suffering in this life; this may be due to sin (s) or failings of an earlier life and/or the
127. Richard Hunderfund (1980), p. 76.
110
Chapter V. Sanskrit-Prakrit and Old-Urdu/Hindi
sins of this life which may have consequences, as suffering in the next life with a re-
birth in an inferior life-form or caste etc.; (6) The centrality of Sanskrit as primeval
mother; and (7) Non-Hindus and foreigners represent people who had either migrated
out of India and/or the caste system, and left the religion for any number of reasons,
their re-conversion not being possible, since one is born into a caste, similar to the
idea of being born of a Jewish mother.
The current phase of history as noted earlier is Kali-Yug, or Dark/Black, and
the last phase, which will end the Universe, to be followed by a fresh creation of
Brahma and a new cycle. Above and beyond, the IRS subordinates every item to
“Karma, or good conduct,” which implies charity, human rights, social justice and
rule of law as essential to salvation. Among other commonalities with the West Asian
religion, there is a flood survivor, Manu, who presumably formulated or codified the
laws.
And there is also a concept of Prophets, similar to Moses, Jesus, and
Mohammed, bringing reforms. In the IRS they are called Autars, or reincarnation of
god Vishnu, necessitated by corruption, social turmoil, and lack of morality on Earth.
The most important ones are Rama, Krishna, and Buddha, who was the 9th Autar and
the 10th is awaited before the end of the world. As mentioned earlier, West Asian
inspiration is also visible in the birth/survival of Krishna, like the myth of Moses.
Both are rooted in the real historical King Sargon.
But the most visible factor in IRS is the power of the Brahmin priest, who dom-
inates and regulates life from birth to death in every ceremony. Peripheral to and sur-
rounding the system is a pantheon of gods/goddesses, idols/icon to focus and to seek
intercession and worship, along with enormous superstitions, belief in astrology, holy
river, saints, etc.
The IRS has been evolving through challenges, both internal and external. The
most serious challenges have been against the caste system, e.g., Buddhism, Jainism,
and other modern movements. The long Muslim rule after the 8th century created sig-
nificant mutual understandings, especially through Bhakti-Sufi movements, which
will be discussed in a later chapter on the evolution of Urdu.
One significant perspective in the IRS is “Aryanism,” a political perspective
based on a presumption regarding the oldest book, Rig Veda, considered divine and
the basis for the caste system and racial division. But Hinduism precedes the arrival
of Aryans as noted earlier. Because belief in one god and Karma are also found in the
Quran, many Muslims scholars and kings had accepted Hinduism as respectable and
divine. Further evolution in the IRS has lead to a tolerance of other religions, now
considered as other paths leading to salvation and the same destination. Powerful
reformers, including Ram Mohan Roy, Vivevekananda, and Gandhi, had held these
views. The caste system too is yielding to egalitarianism and gender equality under
the secular constitution and democracy.
With regard to linguistic science, not much has changed. Obviously, the evo-
lution of SKT and PKT along with their literature is a major part of Urdu’s story. A
brief review of Indian history is a necessity here. Relevant to Urdu is another sect of
the IRS, Sikhism, of the 16th century, regarded as a new religion, but considered by
many as a synthesis of Islam and the IRS minus the caste system.
111
5.3 MARCH OF TIME (HISTORY)
The arrival of Aryan around 1500 BC, as mentioned, had coincided with the
decline of the Indus Valley. The history of this era of some 2000 years still remains in
the dark. Evidence from West Asia has in 1976 identified an Indus Valley, or Indian
King or Governor “some Jibra” (22542218 BC), who had participated in a rebellion
against Narām Sin, grandson of Sargon.128 India does get featured as “Meluha”
among Sumerians, as mentioned before. In fact, an Assyrian King, Tukulti-Nirurta, in
700 BC had styled himself as King of Meluha (India), documenting India’s historical
linkage with West Asia. Then, we find a King Sudas in Rig Veda, defeating a coalition
of Pakthas, perhaps ancient Pathans and Sivas,129 perhaps a Siva worshiper. Rig
Veda, of course, is not historically timed. Later Vedic tradition identifies four geo-
graphical areas130 relevant to Aryan’s easterly movements after leaving northwest
and Punjab, its initial base.
In relation to the two rivers, Ganges and Yamuna, they are (1) Kosala (Oudh),
north of Ganges, inclusive of the cities of Lucknow and Varanasi; (2) Magadha,
inclusive of Bihar and Bengal, centered around Patna in East India; (3) Avanti, south
of Jumuna and River Chambal in Madhya Pradesh, or central province, also called
Malwa; and (4) Vatsa, from upper Jamuna, or Mathura, to Allahabad, around
Kausambi. Aryans later seemed to ignore the northwest area, calling it impure and
non-Aryan, perhaps due to local resurgence or foreign invasion. After Buddha’s
death, around 400 BC, a large kingdom appeared in the east under a King Maha
Nanda, who controlled Magadha Kosala, Orissa, and part of south. This era, contem-
porary to Persian King, Darius, who controlled northwest India, saw the birth and
growth of Buddhism, Jainism in the east. Pali, a PKT, takes a central position. Fol-
lowing Alexander’s invasion and death, the first historical king, Chandra Gupta
Maurya of the east, united the northwest with the east after defeating the Greeks and
establishing the first large empire based at Patna.
Asoka Vardhana (273 BC), a grandson of Chandra Gupta, united all four prov-
inces through Buddhist pacifism. The Maurian period was prosperous and described
as a golden period, with Pali as lingua franca. The northwest area around 250 BC,
though, remained polyglottic, with Greek, Asokan script, Aramaic, and Kharosthi in
use under a general control of Persian Kings or surrogates after Asoka. Nomadic
scythians, the famous Shakas, a Persian-speaking Central Asian tribe, invaded and
controlled Northwest Gujrat, Malwa, and Mathura. One Shaka king, Rudradaman at
Juna Garh, had used SKT (AD 150) inscription. A new Turkish tribe, Kushan,
replaced Shakas and their famous King Kanishka patronized art and science at Taxila,
near Islamabad in Pakistan, and had extended his territory to Central Asia and
Sinkiang in China. Kanishka patronized Mahayana Buddhism but had honored Greek
sun and moon gods, the Persian god, and Siva. Charak, the famous Indian physician,
128. Arco Parpola (1994), pp. 3–6.

129. S. K. Chatterji (1969), p. 55.
130. A. L. Basham (1989), pp. 39–48.
112
had lived in this era around AD 300, when Persian Sessanid took over the northwest.
In the east and center arose another Gupta Dynasty with Samudra Gupta (AD 335–
376). Creating a large empire extending into the south, his son, Chandra Gupta II,
presided over another golden period of India based at Ujjain in Central India. SKT
revealed its most significant creativity with plenty of secular and religious literature.
Kalidas, the famous poet, belonged to this phase.
Most of the written documents of India belong to this and the following era,
about AD 300–500, when SKT achieved its classic status written in “Gupta
Alphabet.” Between AD 500 and 600, a new Turkish tribe, Huns, replaced the Guptas
and ruled for a while, until the time of Harsh Vardhan of Kannauj (a city near Kanpur,
U.P). This Buddhist monarch brought some stability around AD 606, but the empire
fell apart after his murder. A small band, or tribe, called “Gujarhara,” who had
accompanied Huns became prominent in Punjab and Gujrat and filled the void. At
this time, while Gurjara-Pratihara-Rajput clans dominated the northwest and center, a
new group, “Palas,” ruled Bengal and the East and the Rastrakatas, the south and
central area. A triangular contest between them was followed by the Arab conquest of
the northwest, Sindh and Multan (AD 712). This followed the capture of the entire
Northwest by another Persian-speaking Turk, Mehmoud Ghaznavi, whose descen-
dants ruled a large empire extending from Western U. P. to Central Asia, Iran, and
Gujrat from the capital Lahore, until replaced by Ghouri in AD 1200. The latter
annexed Delhi as well.
Events in South India remained largely insulated from the north, though the
Buddhist and Jain influence did bring Pali. Southern tribes, Chola, Chera, and
Pandaya had occupied the east coast, the west coast, and the tip, respectively. These
Dravidian, sea-faring, aggressive people, like the Phoenicians, had the earliest con-
tacts with Arabs, Persian, Romans,131 and South Pacific ports and people. After the
Gupta period AD 500–600, we find Calukha, a dynasty ruling at Mysore Kannada.
But Pallava, based at Kanci Puram, had dominated the far south until replaced by
Cola, who ruled until 1042. After Khalji (1300) the south was integrated with the
north as a large Bimani Kingdom, and later spilt into four linguistic provinces,
Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.
To the north (after AD 712) came Islam, with its egalitarianism, strict mono-
theism, and opposition to priesthood, etc., but viewed from a global perspective, it
was just a new version of West Asian ideas. The previous ideas from West Asia which
had seeded the evolution of the IRS had no label. Under this new label, Islam really
represented a modern, reformed version of Sumerian-Babylonian ideas transmitted
through the Judeo-Christian and Zoroastrian religions.132 Another point worthy of
notice is that the ancient Indian history was put together only in the 19th century by
British officers after they had deciphered Asoka’s inscription. Besides the inscription,
their resources had consisted of travel and other records in Chinese, Greek, and
Persian, coins, and traditional myths. This rather one-sided version apparently has
131. Ibid. p. 63.

132. M. M. Deshpande (1993), pp. 53–54.
113
many skeptics, because of the British self-interest in promoting Hindu-Muslim and

Dravidian-Aryan and other divisions.
5.4 SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT SYSTEM
The concepts that SKT and PKT may not have mother/daughter relationships
and that PKT is older, along with Munda and Dravidian languages, are now supported
by many and even vaguely confessed by Chatterji. Deshpande of the University of
Michigan has most lucidly clarified several such issues, e.g., SKT/PKT relationship
compulsions of SKT grammarians in promoting mythical ideas, and use or abuse of
the term, “Aryan.”
As mentioned earlier, the mythical theory of SKT appeared around 400 BC,
when Panini had composed his grammar, but was reaffirmed by later grammarians,
such as Patanjali (200 BC) and Katayana (100 BC), according to Prof. Deshpande.
Hindu’s Vedic scripture and its medium, SKT language, were designed as eternal
entities.133 Katayana had claimed that the correct usage of SKT leads to prosperity.
SKT was all eternal, and a newly discovered, or naturalized, word into SKT was
defined as “parapati,” or acquisition. Patanjali was shrewd in stating that these words
were in fact in ancient usage and now “re-discovered.” Here was the rationale for the
process of “Tadbhav acquisition in reverse,” necessary for growth.
PKT, naturally, was viewed as an inferior language of melecchas, or barbarians,
a deterioration, or fallen version, or Apabhramsha, of SKT, which by then had
acquired all its loans. This position is really understandable, since the vocabulary of
the two (SKT-PKT) had much in common. Scholars then, including Patanjali, were
limited by circumstances and had no way to know about prior ancient languages with
just 12–18 phonemes/consonants (Chapter III). An example cited by Deshpande134 is
the word “gu” (cow), presumed as SKT by Patanjali, who condemns its sub-standard
inferior derivatives: gavi and goni, etc. No one at that time could have known “gu” to
be a Sumerian word. Patanjali was focused on the correct usage, pronunciation, via
the science of phonetics, and grammar in order to understand and not mispronounce
the divine Vedas, Mantras or Hymns, similar to the need of correct recitation of
Quran by Muslims.
Patanjali’s work, Maha Bhashya, or Grand Language, according to Deshpande,
reveals the intensity of competition against PKT, which had already surpassed SKT to
become “loka,” or people’s language of the world via Buddhist/Jain religious dissem-
ination. SKT, the language of elite Brahmins, was in a defensive mode. SKT con-
tinued with PKT (s) as a second language, like two parallel streams, with their own
grammatical forms. But many subsequent writers, i.e., Chatterji, Grierson, etc., out of
respect for religion and/or politics, had maintained the idea of the genesis of PKT
from SKT and the classification. This attitude obviously involves reading the history
133. Ibid. pp. 66–74.

134. Ibid. pp. 24–26.
114
in reverse and amounts to believing that bricks are created from a fallen building and
water, from melting ice.
There is no history of PKT as such, according to Deshpande. Always seen
through the history and grammar of SKT, PKTs are presented as successive degenera-
tions of SKT at the hands of incapable speakers. PKT was thus given a derogatory
name, Apabhramsha (fallen language). The oldest PKT, considered as standard, was
Maharastri, and the rest were defined through this. The origin of PKT words were
then seen through SKT’s eyes; the term “Tat Sam” (TS) meant “pure SKT loans into
PKT, with no sound change,” and TAT Bhav (TB), “born from SKT after a sound
change.” Those untraceable to SKT were called “Desiya” (indigenous). For example,
“go” (Cow) is a TS, and Urdu’s “ga-ey” is TB. The word “garha” (house) is TS, and
PKT’s “ghar” or “Ghara” is TB.
The change in sounds must have taken place when the Aryan tribe absorbed
local loans into SKT grammar. It was, in fact, a sound shift from PKT to SKT, and not
as postulated by Patanjali and company and by later medieval grammarians, Hem
Chandra and others, as noted by Dr. S. Bukhari (1997). Obviously, the ancient
scholars were not aware of the “earthy history” of SKT and also guarded their
mythical faith.
5.5 LINGUISTICS OF SKT-PKT
The retroflex or cerebral sounds (tab. II.1) such as t, th, d. dh and compound
consonants/aspirants, ph, bh, dh, etc., and the use of double consonants, called
tashdeed in Arabic grammar, and known pre-Aryan features, were absorbed gradually
into SKT. The Rig Veda, the oldest SKT book, reveals the slow acquisition.135 The
later parts of the Rig Veda are more loaded than the initial parts. PKT, naturally was
the main source for these acquisition along with Dravidian and Munda. These con-
stitute some solid evidence about the genetic independence of PKT or Urdu/Hindi,
besides the enormous loans and grammatical features.
In the formulation of both SKT and PKT, by Asoka’s time mutual loans had
already been exchanged. PKT too had acquired loans from SKT and also some fea-
tures, such as consonant clusters (pr, tr, kr), a presumed feature of the IE family.
Some scholars, including Chatterji and Bukhari, also include nasalized n and m as
acquisitions from SKT. This is not accurate because all ancient languages had nasal
sounds (see Chapter III). Vedic (SKT) and Avesthan (old Persian) had arisen from
exchanging phonemes, grammar, and vocabulary through common scripts.
PKT, or Old Urdu, as stated in an earlier chapter, had its own distinct isolating
feature, SOV syntax, two genders, two numbers, and was quite different from
inflected (SKT) with its SVO syntax, three numbers, and three genders. We will
review a few linguistic (phonetic) traits, with examples, to clarify the misconception
of the genesis of PKT from SKT. To understand these, it is important to appreciate the
dialectal/phonetic variations prevailing across India, then almost exclusively a Dra-
135. Ibid. pp. 129–196.
115
vidian-dominated country when SKT arrived. These include semi-vowels (r, e, and
n), interchanges/variations of p, b, v and their aspirants, s, sh interchanges, distri-
bution of retro flexes, and double consonants. Naturally, a new foreign language,
Vedic-SKT, had to accept the role of a second language among the PKT and/or Dra-
vidian-speaking majority. It adapted and grew, but to prevent future rot, rules of
grammar and insistence on correct pronunciation and memorization were deemed
appropriate. PKT as the mother tongue and SKT as a second language had depended
largely on the same word bank, or vocabulary.
PKT, like Dravidian, is extremely rich in vowels, and vowel clusters,136 or
diphthongs, such as ai and au. Vedic and its Mesopotamian ancestors, Hittite, etc.,
had lacked these, especially the short ones. To imitate the local words/syllable, it had
to use semi-vowels: v, h, y, to replace vowel clusters (underlined) in the following
examples:
Vedic/SKT PKT Urdu
Kavan < Kaoun > Kaun (Who)
Lavan < Laoun > Laun (Salt)
Yavan < Jaoun > Jana (Go)
PKT had thus helped Vedic and then was simplified into Urdu by simplifying
the Dravidian vowel clusters. Vedic used v, and y, and other consonants, to break
vowel sequences. For example, the PKT word pia becomes priya (lover). The reverse
is also true when Vedic words changed into PKT, e.g., consonant clusters (underlined)
are broken with the help of double consonants or tas-deed (underlined), a DR feature.
Vedic/SKT PKT/Urdu
Pakva > Pakka (cooked)
Madhyam > madh-dham (medium/slow)
However, with the faith in PKT’s origin from SKT, the grammarians had estab-
lished rules of converting SKT words into PKT. These consisted of reversing the
process as described. The process is reviewed in detail by Bukhari, referring to
famous scholars such as Varucci, Hem Chandra, and others. Few examples are
extracted from Bukhari’s book. One is the absorption of half nasal/n/ semi-vowel and
vowel cluster (underlined) by consonant clusters (also underlined):
Urdu/Hindi PKT Vedic
Gaon < gaoun > Gram (village)
sidhey < sidh-dhoun > sidh ram (straight)
sanp < sanp > sarp (serpent)
The tendency however lives on even today. Furthermore, PKT consists of
words which are bi- or tri-syllabic and only the first consonant of a syllable is voiced
and the last unvoiced.137 For example, in the word rām, the m is silent. In SKT, the
last letter is usually voiced, as in rama. SKT, unlike PKT, is also a lot polysyllabic.
The point to remember is that scholars have posited that the words kaun, laun etc. in
the above examples were distorted from SKT to PKT, but the fact is that the process
went both ways.
136. Suhail Bukhari (1997), pp. 47–65.

137. Ibid. p. 173.
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5.5.1 SKT’s Inflection and Evolution
The inflection of verbs and nouns is a most important feature of SKT. A sample
of its verb flexion for “to give,” in six forms is presented as follows:138
Old
English SKT Greek
Persian
I give Dadami dadami Didomi
You give Dadasi dadahi Didos
He gives Datati dadaiti Didoti
We give Dadmas dademahi Didomes
You give Data dasta Didote
They give Dadati datenti Didonti
But if one accounts for three genders and all tenses, these six-forms of verbs
can multiply into hundreds. Similarly, for noun flexion or declension, SKT has seven
cases. Thus, just for nominative (subject), accusative (object) accounting for three
numbers, one can derive 21 forms, e.g., pustakam (root for book) has three nomina-
tives representing three numbers, pustakam (singular), pustake (dual), and pustakani
(plural). German scholars who had exaggerated “flexion” as a sign of high culture,
literature, and science (chapter I-II) surely had political motives. Sumerian, Egyptian,
Chinese, and Dravidian, all of whom created high civilization, had no flexion; all lan-
guages are equally endowed for creativity. It seems that the Vedic language, sur-
rounded by Austric-Munda, Dravidian, and the hybrid Mundravi, did attempt to
abandon its flexion, but religious competition during Buddhist time initiated move-
ments to freeze its grammar and phonetic rules, as mentioned earlier.
Panini (~400 BC) of Taxila, near Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, had led the
way, as noted in his book, Ashtadhayaye (eight chapters). His successors, Patanjali
and Katayana, finalized the work and created some 4000 rules and mythical ideas of
its genesis. These grammarians used the term, bhasa, meaning “language,” which
later on (~AD 700) became known as Samskrita, meaning, “rearranged, reorganized,
perfected or cultured, etc. It became restricted by becoming exclusive for priests and/
or elite scholars.
SKT’s role had peaked between AD 300–700 with massive creativity in liter-
ature, the sciences, and mathematics. But the language itself, a second language was
frozen, at best, after Harsha (7th century). Flexion — a disease, according to some lin-
guists — was the handicap. It could only grow by making compound nouns, some-
times consisting of 20–30 components.139 This fashion, then considered meritorious
and even a linguistic art, had sometimes created a single sentence covering 2–3
pages. SKT turned into an ornate and extremely artificial language and is now a static
language, used by Brahmins only for religious ceremonies and rituals.
138. F. Bodmer (1985), p. 86.

139. A. L. Basham (1989), pp. 388–401.
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SKT’s script (Table XVI.4) is phonetic and alphabetic and an adaptation of

Asoka’s Brahmi, a derivative of PAS (Chapter XVI).
5.6 SANSKRIT AND URDU/HINDI
SKT is the single most important language in Urdu’s political history. Scholars
find SKT originating in Northern Mesopotamia, Syria/Turkey, from Hittite and
Hurrian-Mitanni speakers who had interacted with Semetic-Akkaddian-Assyrian and
Elamite-Dravidian of Iran around 1500 BC through common scripts. SKT thus
reveals loans from Sumerian, Elamite, Akkadian etc. Many Indian/SKT-sounding
names here were polysyllabic with consonant clusters. Some cited in Prof. Burrow’s
book140 include words such as purusa (man), sutarna, pra sāstar (director or ruler),
viryaasūr (hero of valor), ratha (chariot), vrddhasva (large house) etc. These show a
Sumerian prefix su (sweet or good), a Dravidian prefix, pra or per (number one or
head); double consonants, dd, and aspirant phonemes, dh, th, etc. The most important
of these documents, according to Burrow, is a treaty which reveals god’s names as
discussed earlier — Indara, Mitra, Uruvanas or Varuna, etc. Sometimes Burrow and
other Indo-Europeans exaggerate and try to show IE linguistic features and consonant
clusters out of syllabic cuneiform, which is impossible, e.g., sutarna had to be written
with four syllables — su, ta, ra, na.
The other document by a Mitannian, called Kikkuli, is a horse-training manual,
which has used idioms like eka-vartan, meaning “one turn,” and other number words
like tera (three), panza (five), satta (seven), and nava (nine). Most importantly,
Hurrian-Mitanni was an agglutinative, like Dravidian, and the horse trainer’s name,
Kikkuli, also sounds Dravidian with its double consonant, kk. Thus, besides the
shared vocabulary, the earliest evidence of SKT reveal a hybrid beginning even in
phonemes.
The next stage of SKT is from the Rig Veda, with presumed completion around
700 BC, and appearence as written after AD 300, although SKT words had appeared
earlier in Asoka’s PKT inscriptions. Rig Veda reveals further growth and hybrid-
ization by loan and phonetic acquisition as noted by many scholars besides Burrow.
Michael Wetzel of Harvard mentions as many as 300 loans in RV;141 Bukhari142
reviewed the earliest Vedic words and grammar; and Deshpande focused on the
gradual acquisition of retroflex phonemes.
5.7 LOANS INTO SKT
Besides the Sumerian loans mentioned earlier, i.e., su (good or sweet), maha
(great), ab (water), go (cow), ghar (house), etc., SKT’s acquisition from Munda and
Dravidian is very large143 and it had behaved exactly like modern Urdu or English,
140. T. Burrow (1973), pp. 27–30.

141. Wetzel, M. (1995), pp. 99–101 in George Erdosy.
118
acquiring several words/phonemes for a given item, e.g., āb, jal, nir, pāni for water,
or five words for elephant. Dravidian had been its most important resource. This
acquisition process was geared by phonetic alteration and inflection. Later Dravidian
studies did, in fact, uncover these loans. The famous dictionary by Burrow and
Emeneau on Dravidian reveals about 800 entries in its latest edition (1984), doubling
the number since the earlier (1961) edition. Many of these entries, already part of
PKT or Mundravi, were reviewed in the previous chapter, the oldest source, of
course, being Munda.
Some Munda words like kadali (banana), karpasa (cotton), and others went
into SKT as well. Others, current in SKT but not Urdu, include langhala (plough),
tambula (betel), jumbala (mud), undura (rat), alabu (bottle soured), and a verb jim,
jemati (to eat) from Santhali.
Even in the early RV period one finds significant numbers of local words for
plants, fruits, animals, etc., e.g., for sugar, rice, wheat, sesame, dog, horse, cow,
copper, iron, bricks, peacock, tiger, lion, etc., according to Prof. Wetzel; some other
words are as follows: anu (particle), kapi (monkey), karmara (smith), gana (band or
group), kitara (gamester), nāna (several), nila (blue), pushpa (flower), phala (fruit),
shyam (evening). Prof. Burrow provides a list of about 100 Dravidian words. Some of
these discussed in the previous chapter are also part of SKT’s acquisition. Some of
these, to repeat here, are: kala (black), kuti (house), Kutt (pound), kona (corner),
kathin (difficult), kotara (cavity), cumb (kiss), cikkana (slippery), capeta (slap),
tadaka (lock), bila (hole), mukta (crow), and mala (necklace). Some other loans from
Burrow’s list that do not figure in Urdu/ Hindi are as follows: anal (fire), eda (sheep),
tula (cotton), khala (a rogue), panda (enuch), palli (lizard), mina (fish), bal (strength),
simka (ant), heramba (buffalo).
Many others dug up by this author include high profile words identified with
Hindu religion closely: Brahman (priest class), Pandit ( learned), puja (worship),
mandir (temple), manusha (man) ; and few others are catur (shrewd), mānya (fame)
nal (good), petti (box), anchal (margin of garment), tulsi (sacred herb) etc.
Other sources of SKT borrowing are words from Greek, after Alexander’s
time; e.g. Khalina or Xaëvo’s (bridle), surunga (tunnel), paristoma (coverlet/blanket),
mela, ueëav (ink), kimpala, a musical instrument; words such as Kalamo (pen) and
kramelaka (camel) from Greek are originally Assyrian/Aramaic. Some other acquisi-
tions from Greek, e.g. kendra or kentron meaning center; hora (hour), heli (sun).
Persian language, especially old Persian, and SKT share a large part of their
vocabulary. But several later acquisitions after the achemenian time include lipi
(writing) from Dipi, Mundra (seal) from Muhr, Ksatrapa or satrap (governor), khola
or kula (helmet), bandi (prisoner), pustaka (book) from Persian post or skin, mihira
(sun) from mehr and mochika shoemaker from mochak or mochi.
Scholars have known that because of historical affinity between SKT and
Persian it is rather easy to interchange words of the two with a slight change in con-
sonant and/or vowels. Besides the short list discussed in chapter III (Table III.5) some
143. T. Burrow (1973), pp. 374–389.
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others quoted by Dr. Bukhari144 are part of Urdu’s lexicon; Persian consonants kh, f,
gh are changed to k or s, p and g, respectively, as follows:
Persian RigVedic
Khurus (assault-tumult) Kurus
Khirad (Wisdom) Kar
Khusk (dry) Susk
Khur (sun) Sur
Khuda (god) Svadha
Khar (thorn) Sarn
bugh (god) Bhagm
margh (deer) Marg
meegh (cloud) Megh
farishta (angel) Paristha
fasang (beautiful) Pesang
ab (shine) abha
a br (cloud) abhra
seprud (custody) Sepradh
sta (stand) Stha
5.8 URDU’S VOCABULARY FROM SKT

As mentioned earlier, old Urdu or PKT consists of a very limited number of
SKT tatsam word 5–20%. Tad bhavs which run in thousands really represent Dra-
vidian and Munda pre-Aryan root words that were reviewed earlier. But both types,
TS and TB, had features like double consonants, consonant clusters, polysyllabism,
dominance of retro flexes etc; with years of usage some of these phonemes have lost
their sharp edges to become “Urdu worthy.” Some examples follow:
Tr or tr > t: Word ratri (night) > rat, Gujratha or Gujrastra > Gujrat
ri or ri > r: trisna (desire) > tarasna, dris (to see) > darshan.
cha > kh: rakhcha (to keep or protect) > rakh.
A review of SKT/TS, especially verbs, clearly shows that without them modern
Urdu/Hindi can lose much of its charm and melody, for they are an impressive part of
its richness.
5.8.1 SKT – Verbs
A short list of 25 TS verbs (Table V.1) is discussed to appreciate their utility

and inherent charm. These TS verbs are responsible for hundreds of spin offs, as
verbal nouns, adjectives etc. In the field of sports and games, the key words <Khelna
#15> to play, <hārna #7> to lose or be defeated, and <jeetna #12> to win make
everyday speech of Urdu/Hindi. The same is true for laughing <hasna #8> and crying
or weeping <rona #23>, sleeping <sona #26> waking up <jāgna #9>, etc. <Parna> to
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read is DR but SKT/TS for writing <likna #16> is so complimentary. This is also true
for SKT originated to sell <bechna #1> to match with buying via the DR word
<kharidna> and <jeena-janna #10> to be born or be alive and <marna, maut> for
death and dying of DR complement Urdu. SKT to sing <gana #5> has a wide scope;
spin off include singer <gayek>, song <geet>, singer feminine <geeta> etc., and sim-
ilarly, the verb <dhona #3> meaning to wash creates washer man <dhobi, dhobin
[fem.]>, <dhulai> verbal noun for washing as well as wages for it. For eating we have
seen several entries from Munda and DR. But drinking is to be via <peena #18>.
Table V.1 Urdu Verbs from Sanskrit
COMMENTS OTHER:
URDU SKT ENGLISH
DERIVATIVES
1. bechna bikriyarn to sell -
2. dena dadanam to gve in pers, latin, greek
3. dhona dhavanah to wash dhobi (washerman)
4. dekhna drs to see darshan (visitation)
5. gana gana to sing git (song), gita (singer)
6. gaya gamanam to go -
7. harna praha be defeated harana (to defect)
8. hasna has to laugh hasana (to make laugh)
9. jagna jagran to wake up -
10. janna janman to give birth janam (birth)
11. jan-na jn_nam to know -
12. jeetna jay_it to win jeet (victory)
13. napna mapan to sze mapna, napnach
14. kapna kampanam tremble -
15. khelna krida to play -
16. likhna likhitam to write -
17. milna mileti to meet -
18. nahana snanam to bathe -
19. peena pa to drink -
20. pakana pacakah to cook pachana (digest)
21. palna palita to protect bringing up or raise
22. rokna rodha to stop Prevent
23. rona rodanam cry, weep rulana (to make one cry)
24. rakhna raksha to protect (style, manner)
25. sunna sravanam to hear sunana to tell
26. sona svap to sleep sapna (dream)
27. tarasna trsna tro desire tarsana (deprive)
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Another quality entry <milna #17> to meet also generates many tracks <milan>
meeting, <milana> to introduce and <mela> a fair etc., <palna #21> meant to protect
in SKT, is essentially used with sense of bringing up and the one with meaning of
protection <raksh #24> is more commonly used as <rakhna> to keep. Others such as
<napna #13> to measure or quantify, <dekhna #4> to look, watch, <dena> to give,
<sunna #25> to hear and <pakana #20> to cook, are essential and front line verbs
with spin-offs in everyday speech.
Many other verbs from Sanskrit TS, not in the table include <seekna> to learn,
<bahna> to flow, <paerna> to float, swim, <daurna> to run, <bāndhna> to tie,
<taulna> to weigh and <sahna> to suffer or tolerate, etc.
5.8.2 Relationships, Flora, Places, and Names
Agricultural terminology and the names of fruits, plants etc. in SKT are mostly
borrowed from Munda and Dravidian, except for a very few words, i.e., the word for
leaf <patti> and grass <ghas>. This is true for relationship words as well. Vedic piter
for father <pita> is certainly in vogue. Other common ones include <log> people,
<nari> woman. Body-part names, <kan> ear, and <nain> eye are popular in Urdu/
Hindi. Terms related to the physical environment include <bhum> land, and <des>
county, <akash> sky, <prakash> light, <andhera> darkness, <chand> moon, <din>
daytime, etc.
5.8.3 Household Items
Many words of proto-Urdu noted in the previous chapter are supplemented by

SKT words such as <ag> fire, <culha> fire pit for cooking, <bhavan> house, <chat>
roof, and <dwar> door. Some popular words for food items include; <doodh> milk,
<tel> oil, <bhojan> food and the famous <laddu> spherical sweet meat. Precious
metal silver word <rupa> is usually used as adjective <rupaili> meaning silver color
and the word <chandi> for silver is derived from moon <chānd>; while gold <sona>
comes from su (good) varna (color); <suvarna> meaning ‘good color.’ A popular toy
<khilona> is from the verb to play or <khelna> (Table V.1).
5.8.4 Professions and Titles/Ranks
SKT though rich in this category, does not constitute a whole lot in Urdu/Hindi.
Some are: <das> servant, <seth> from Shrestha, meaning exalted or important, is
used for a merchant, a rich man or boss as title; also used as surname <teli> means oil
man and <bayopari> a businessman-merchant. The word <rand> meaning a widow
spins a word for prostitute <randi>; and the word for another common profession,
stealing <chori> is the act or verbal noun is also from SKT; <chor> means the one
who commits the act, i.e., thief.
5.8.5 Adjectives and Adverbs
SKT is a rich source for these popular categories. The word that means “a lot,”
“very,” “many,” or “much” is <bahut>; it is an all-purpose adjective. Other common
ones include <nira> all of it, <sudh> pure, <sundar> beautiful, <veer> brave,
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<murakh> fool, <neech> inferior or low status person, <dalidder> greedy, miser and
poor, <mai-la> dirty, <sukha> dry, <kāran> cause, reason, <sada> always and <sab>
all or every; e.g <sab admi> means every man. The word <pichla, peechey> means
behind; also used for past, old or after etc. Spin off from this creates words for direc-
tions; facing the sun drives it all, <purva or purab> meaning front is East; <puschin-
peeche> behind means West, <dakshin-dakhin> meaning right is South and <uttara or
ulta (left) -uttar> is North.
Lastly, one of the most popular words <ach-cha> meaning good, well/ok, all
right, true, is a most discernable word when two Urdu speakers converse. It is getting
known in the UK and U.S.A among non-Urdu speakers as a symbol of South Asian
speech. Its value is as an all-purpose word and is similar to that of the word <bahut>.
5.8.6 Social-Cultural, and Life of Mind
SKT’s contribution under this category, as well as many of the adjectives seen
above, really is the reflection of high culture and civilization it represents. In its
Prakritized form, Urdu has inherited a lot. Only popular ones are listed and again
without SKT originals to save space; starting with words representing infirmities, we
have <rog-rogi> disease and patient, <dukh> sorrow and the opposite, <sukh>
comfort, and <peerha> pain or distress; <seva> to serve and its derivative is <sevak>
servant.
Other commonly used ones include <neend> sleep/sleepiness, <nas> spoilt or
eliminated, <gun> virtue or good deed, <pap> sin, <bhag> luck or fortune, and
<dand> punishment. The words for time is <samaey>, which is quite popular along
with <waqt>, a Persian derivative. Few others to mention here are < ānsu> tears,
<dhan> wealth, which sometimes goes with Persian <daulat>, and <dosh> blame.
The word ‘to pay attention to’ is <dhiyān> (or concentrate, or be focused); it is a
common adjective as well. But as a noun (meaning meditation, among Buddhists) it
got corrupted to ‘Zen,’ the religion of Japanese Buddhism. Marriage <biyah> is a
pretty common word along with Persian <shadi> in Urdu; it is sometimes used as a
verb, <biyana, biyahi> meaning marrying off. Finally, the word <aj> meaning today,
or today’s date, and the word <garaj> thunder and names of numbers <ekum> one,
<duo> two etc. are critical SKT loans to Urdu/Hindi.
5.8.7 SKT’s Help in Grammar
SKT basically had no effect on the independent grammar of Urdu/Hindi. It has

surely provided some adverbs, particles and conjunctions. Some of the latter are used
preferentially by Hindi writers as shown by the following examples:
Auxiliary Verb
<stha> –> tha, meaning was, has led to following
Masc. Sing. <tha> was i.e. <voh tha> he was
Masc. Plu. <they> were i.e. <voh they> they were
Fem. Sing. <thi> was i.e. <voh thi> she was
Fem. Plu. <thein> were i.e. voh thiein> they were
(The last one being a process via Persian effect (vide Chapter VI) )
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Particles
<se>, from SKT sahita, means “from,” e.g., <school se> from school
<sath> from SKT sahita, means “along with,” e.g., <Noah ke sath> with Noah.
<sab> from SKT sarva, means “all,” e.g., <sab jao> all go.
SKT language obviously benefited Urdu’s evolution by some lexical

enrichment. But its most significant role really lies in its voluminous literature both
secular and religious, prose and poetry, themes and ideas; These served as one of the
major resources for future literature in Urdu and others.
5.9 LITERARY LEGACY OF SKT
RV which represents the earliest variety of literature and considered divine was
composed by hundred of sages/poets. It consists of hymns and praises for Aryan
gods, Indira Agni (fire), Varuna, Usha (dawn) and Surya (sun); other three Vedas,
Sam Veda consisting of hymns and melodies, Yajjur Veda containing formula for sac-
rifices and Athar Veda medicine and magic were completed by about 500 BC. RV
was composed in Afghanistan/Punjab area and the rest in eastern Indo-gangetic plain.
This west to east vector supposedly represents the migration of Vedic speakers,
through war and peace invoking various gods. Early hymns of RV also reveal gradual
naturalization or Indianisation of the languages. RV stands out as speaking with
disdain on behalf of some Aryan tribe, struggle against enemies, the inferior
Melecchas or barbarian, black, Dasa-Dasyus (slave) or flat-nosed or nose-less tribes,
followers of non-Aryan ways culture/gods with inferior non-Aryan speech. Non-
Aryan Melecchas include Yadava, Dravidas, Andhras, Austric-Munda aborigines etc.
But later on their oldest base in the west gets declared as non-Aryan as analyzed by
many scholars: Center and east being identifiable with the Aryan, culture and/or
Aryan religious practice and/or their political comfort/safety.
In addition to four Vedas and their voluminous commentaries other important
volumes include two major epics, Mahabharat and Ramayana, a law book, Manu’s
Smrti; Purana, consisting of mythical generations of Kings from sun and moon
dynasties and a book of Wisdom, Upanishad. All of these and many of the other reli-
gious and secular works in SKT were written down between AD 300-800. This is a
massive boy of literature and runs into tens of thousands manuscripts. Some
important secular work includes Arthashastra on statecraft, two volumes on medical
science by Charaka and Shusutra, mathematics by Aryabhata, poetry and drama by
Kali Das and other materials on philosophy, including Monism, Dualism, Polytheism,
and Atheism. A brief glimpse of some of these is relevant.
RV hymns are eloquent and reveal high philosophy including Creation. Two
pieces are quoted (RV; X, 129.1.7): “Whence this creation arose, whether it created
itself or whether it did not? He who looks upon it from the highest space, he surely
knows or may be He knows not.” The second quote: “Who knows the truth? Who
here will pronounce it whence this birth, whence this creation? The gods appeared
afterwards, with the creation (world). Who then knows whence it arose?” One dis-
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covers three items here, one powerful god, skepticism about creation as well as many
gods; Sumerian ideas do percolate clearly here and even in the hymns on Savitr (RV;
XXXV, 2–11) or sun; Sumerian-Akkadian hymns145 on or Shamas had similar ideas.
RV does provide many secular themes as well, e.g., one dealing with the plight of
gambling.146
Upanishad provides beautiful vignettes of philosophy in a conversation format.
One popular quote147 is between a son and father, who initiates the dialogue:
“Fetch me a fruit of the Banyan tree!”
“Here is one, sir.”
“Break it!”
“I have broken it, sir.”
“What do you see?”
“Very tiny seeds, sir.”
“Break one.”
“I have broken it, sir.”
“Now what do you see?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“What you do not see is the essence and on that essence the tree exists. Believe me,
my son, in that essence is the self of all that is. That is the truth, that is the self.”
This indeed is the basis of Monism, god’s presence in everything, including

human self. Many Sufi poets of Urdu/Hindi picked up this theme as we will see later.
The epic poems “Mahabharat,” and “Ramayan,” are massive and accumulated
over the years. The main story revolves around a great war fought between Pandavas
and their cousin Kauruvas, in northern India around Delhi, where righteous Pandavas
kill the numerically superior adversary and win. Embedded in the story is “Bhagawad
Gita,” or the “Lord Song” in which Lord Krishna inspires the reluctant hero, Arjun, to
perform the duty of his caste as warrior, and kill even his own cousins, propounding
the concept of Dharma and/or Karma for salvation.
The other epic, a small part of “Mahabharat” is “Ramayan,” attributed to
Valmiki. The hero, Ram, a mythical prince who is deprived of his throne and has
lived in exile in the forest for 14 years, slays demons and performs other kinds of mir-
acles. His wife, abducted by Ravana, a Brahmin King of Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, stays
pious and virtuous. She is finally recovered after a war assisted by Hunuman, the
monkey god and his brigade. Returning triumphant to the kingdom, Ayodhya, Ram
governs an ideal society. Suspecting his wife Sita’s infidelity, Ram banishes her, and
Sita takes refuge with the poet/author, Valmik. Later, when Ram identifies his two
sons and attempts to patch up with his wife, Sita prays and is swallowed by the
cracked earth and Rama returns to heaven as Vishnu. “Ramayana” is very popular in
the north and provides themes for drama, poetry and films.
145. Jean Buttero (1992), pp. 209–210.

146. A. L. Basham, p. 406.
147. Ibid. p. 252.
125
Embedded in the “Mahabharata” are the sermons of Krishna, called

“Bhagawad Geeta,” or “Lord’s Song.”
“In essence, I am never born, I never alter,
I am the Lord of all beings, and full master of my own nature;
Yet of my own power, I come to be.”
“Whenever, the sacred law fails and evil raises its head,
I take embodied birth,
To quarrel the wicked, to root out sinners
and to establish the sacred law.
I am born from age to age.”
The basic philosophy of caste system and Brahmical order had always
remained challenged. A SKT poet, Brishpati exposed Brahmins as exploitative users
and condemned their established religion and Vedas; an English rendering by Monier-
Williams (1893) is quoted from Will Durant:148
“No heaven exists, nor final liberation,
No soul, no other world, no rites of caste. . . .
The triple Veda, triple self-command,
And all the dust and ashes of repentance–
These yields a means of livelihood for men
Devoid of intellect and manliness. . . .
How can this body when reduced to dust
Revisit earth? And if a ghost can pass
To other worlds, why does not strong affection
For those he leaves behind attract him back?
The costly rites enjoined for those who die
Are but a means of livelihood devised
By sacerdotal cunning–nothing more. . . .
While life endures let life be spent in ease
And merriment; let a man borrow money
From all his friends, and feast on melted butter.”
This kind of liberalism which permeated SKT literature is now seen in Urdu/
Hindi (Chapter IX–XII). Among the galaxy of SKT poets, Kalidas is re-titled as
Maha Kavi (grand poet) and lived during the golden age of SKT at Ujjain. His mas-
terpieces are two long plays “Shakulala” and “The Apple Cart,” the latter played in
New York in 1924. Other SKT poets and writers of this classical period include Bhar-
tahari,149 known for his wit and humor, and Dandin, famous for his work of fiction,
Tale of Ten Princes.
148. William Durant (1963) Vol. I, p. 418.

149. A. L. Basham (1989), pp. 421–445.
126
5.10 PRAKRIT-OLD URDU/HINDI
Buddhist and Jain adoption of PKT started the written linguistic history of
India. But there must have been a pre-Buddhist hybrid PKT, something the equivalent
of “Mundravi”; this is perhaps what was first called PKT by linguists. Buddha had
preferred this language by forbidding his Brahmin disciples Yampai and Utekeel;150
who had requested to capture his sermon in SKT since people of the inferior caste, in
their opinion, were “defiling the sermons” by repeating them in inferior (PKT)
speech. Buddha is reported to have said, “O Bikkos (monks), never write in SKT;
anyone doing this will insult me; try to understand the sermons in your language.”
PKT-Pali was the official language and lingua franca of the eastern Magha-
dhian empire based at Patna, to which Asoka had succeeded. Through this new
religion, Pali spread almost over the whole of India and even assumed a divine status
“god created;” but remained a utilitarian language. Based on the dialectal features,
linguistics recognize two varieties during the Asokan period: (1) Western variety cen-
tered around Mathura/Agra area called Sauerseni by the natives of this region. (2)
Eastern variety of South Bihar called Maghadhi, which was dominated then as now
by Austric-Munda and two Dravidian Malto and Kurux speakers; It had less SKT-TS
than the western variety. An in-between variety, “Central” called ardh (half)
Maghadhi had dominated Eastern UP and North Bihar, and became a preferred
medium for Jain writers. The western variety was the PKT-Pali of Asoka’s
inscription. Following the classical period of SKT, Harsha (AD 700), the Buddhist
king, supported both PKT-Pali and SKT; the PKT-Pali became the medium for
western Buddhism “Mahayan” or a (greater vehicle) and eastern variety with the
Hinayan (lesser vehicle) Buddhism.
By AD 600–700 linguists identify five regional varieties of PKT overlapping
each other:151
Maharashtri: the most developed in literature had linked Dravidian south and
Sauerseni area; Its descendant, “Marathi,” has the richest mix of Dravidian word;
some regard this as true predecessor of Urdu/Hindi.
Sauerseni, a continuation of PKT-Pali covering Indo-Gangetic plain, U.P., east-
ern Punjab and central India Malwa or Avanti; predecessor of Urdu/Hindi.
Magadhi, the continuation of eastern PKT and of south Bihar was taken to Sri
Lanka with Hinayan Buddism; it is often also called Pali.
Ardh-Magdhi, a mixture of the above two extended from northwestern Bihar to
the west up to the city of Allahabad.
Pishachi Prakarit, which covered west Punjab, Kashmir and parts of Afghanistan
had been recurrently under Persian domination. It seemed to be neither pure Indian
nor pure Persian but a sort of a crossbreed.
150. Masood Hasan Khan (1999), pp. 16–18.

151. Ibid. pp. 24–31.
127
As PKT slowly took literary form under Jain and Buddhist, it developed some
rules. As the people’s language, always ahead of literature, it evolved much faster,
breaking down rules, towards a so-called “decayed, or fallen, state” — literally,
Apabhramsa. The latter became the name of the next phase, or line, of PKTs.
The ensuing civil war after Harsh (AD 700) and the arrival of Arabic and
Persian accelerated the linguistic growth as well as regionalism. But Sauerseni PKT
or Sauerseni-Upbhramsh by 10th –11th century at Kannauj became the lingua franca/
literary language of entire North India, from Punjab to Bengal, including Gujrat, and
a major vehicle for Janin and Buddhist religions and other minor sects such as Gora-
khpanthies in Punjab and Suddahas in Bengal-Bihar. Modern Urdu/Hindi, in fact, is a
continuation of Suerseni-Upbhramsh, now differentiated by linguists as Khari boli,
Brij bhasha, Eastern Punjabi, Gujrati/Rajasthani, etc., based on accents and dialectal
features. Four other regional PKTs evolved their own Upbramsh, e.g., in the West,
Prachad Upbramsh became Sindhi; Maharshtri became Deccani, or Hyderabadi152
Urdu, and Marathi; Maghadi created Bengali, Orriya, Maithli-Bihari, etc.; and Ardh-
Maghadhi is seen as Eastern Hindi, or Oudhi.
PKT-Pali, Sauerseni-Upbramsh or old Urdu/Hindi evolved into the Hindi/Urdu
phase, with the absorption of Persian/Arabic. This will be discussed in the next
chapter. But the lexical evolution of PKT itself before the next phase is also critical
toward modernity.
5.11 LEXICAL EVOLUTION IN OLD URDU/HINDI
The regional differences between various types of PKT were not much in the
syntax or grammar, but in phonetics; pronouns and prepositions and least of all in
vocabulary. These differences are still visible. But with in the northern PKT one can
find the persistence of features such as double consonants, clusters of vowels and
consonants, and too many retroflex etc. These changed over the centuries. A short
review of some words is relevant here:
PKT Old Urdu/Hindi Modern Urdu/Hindi

bitth baitho (sit)
ulta (repeat, reverse, upside
valattam
down)
awagl uglo (spit out)
uccal uchla (jumped)
ghram ghara (formed/made)
udde ura (flew)
rokkaam roka (stopped)
roodh raundha (trampled/crushed)
gatt gaya (gone)
mareya mara (dead)
ankeyam ankh (eye)
152. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 91–99.
128
ukkareyam ukhra (uprooted)

aveyam aya (come)
jharya jhara (swept)
pasalleya phisla (slipped)
These words, compiled by Dr. Bukhari,153 represent changes over several cen-
turies. But many of these words still have similar old phonation in the Dravidian dic-
tionary.154
One must recognize here that the PKT-type of pronunciation still exists in the
villager’s speech in many places; modern Urdu/Hindi essentially represents an urban/
city culture much influenced by literacy; this issue is elaborated in detail in later
chapters. PKT’s pronunciation does, however, reveal a basic linguistic/phonetic
indigenous tendency to simplify the consonant/vowel clusters of all acquisitions, be
they SKT, Arabic, or English, by ignoring difficult phonemes f, z, kh, gh, and main-
taining the V/B/P, r/l, s/sh differences. For example, the English word film becomes
filam or philam, form > pharam or faram, bulb > balab, etc. The same is true with
Persian-Arabic words such as vaqt > wakat (time), zulm > zulam or julam
(oppression), sharm > sharam or saram (shyness), etc; and also with older SKT/Dra-
vidian words such as Indra > Indira or Inder (god), putr > putter (son), prem > perem
(love), pramukh > permukh (chief), shaktri > chatri (warrior class) etc.
Let us review a specimen of Old Urdu from Hem Chandra as quoted by Dr.
Bukhari; the language was still free from Persian or Arabic:
“Saer aek jo paoun ghitta
manda vaes pakaoun nitta.”
Urdu:“Jo aek saer ghee paoun,
to rozana bees rotiyan pakaoun.”
[English translation: If I get a one seer

(2 pounds in weight) of ghee (butter),
I will cook twenty rotis, or bread, every day.]
5.12 PKT-PALI LITERATURE (WORLD CLASS)
PKT language in the early days, had a different dialectal flavor, as is apparent
from the above reviews; SKT and PKT both had kept pace in the literary field. In the
mixed stage plays PKT dialogue was allotted to the less educated, women, or inferior
characters, while main characters as Kings and Brahmins spoke SKT and people got a
general sense because of the shared vocabulary. Literary compositions in PKT itself,
both religious and secular, are also plentiful, some even with global fame.
The most famous work is Panchtantra (Five Treasures). This collection of
animal fables with moralistic vignettes, or episodes, by Vidyapathi was translated in
Arabic, Persian, and almost every European language. The fable of La Fontaine and
153. Suhail Bukhari (1997), pp. 127-128.

154. Ibid. p. 269.
129
the stories of Reynard, The Fox, are well known derivatives from Indian Pali.155 The
English version of these “moral philosophies of Doni” was edited by Sir Thomas
North in 1570. Essentially, Panchtantra was meant as a book of instruction for the
Kings and rulers, set with short moral vignettes in narrative form.
Historians sometimes doubt that they originated in India because the Sumerian
literature (Chapter III), the oldest, does have such themes. But given the setup of a
forest, where both animals and humans are at risk, human minds could create such
stories anywhere. The important point to remember here is that for Urdu/Hindi it is a
direct inheritance from PKT. Another significant one is Hitupdesh (salutary
instruction) in Eastern PKT. A short vignette about a certain lion with three advisors,
a crow, a tiger, and a jackal, is delightful to reproduce. In time of plenty, a camel gone
astray is taken in as a protected friend by the lion. As severe famine and hunger over-
takes the jungle and options are few, his advisors tell the lion to eat up the camel. The
lion refuses but would accept only if his friend made a voluntary offer. In a plot, three
advisors and the camel go to see the sick and weak lion. Each advisor first offers
himself to the lion but the offer is turned down by the gracious lion. The poor camel,
under moral pressure, offers himself. Expecting a refusal from the lion, he becomes a
meal for the four animals. There are some beautiful poetic, moralistic couplets inter-
spersed in the story as follows: . . . A crow telling his two friends that a master, king,
or anybody weak and hungry would not hesitate in committing a sin;
“. . . A woman torn by hunger will abandon her child.
. . . A snake torn by hunger will eat its own eggs.
. . . what evil will a hungry man not do?
Lean men are always pitiless.”
The crow continues. . .

“A drunkard, an imbecile, a lunatic,
A man tired out, an angry man, a hungry man,
A greedy man, a frightened man, a hasty man,
and a man in love never do the right thing.”
Pali literature is both quite profound and extensive in covering Buddha’s story
of seeking and finding the truth, as succinctly commented upon by Prof. Basham.
Among women poets, not unfamiliar in India, one Ambapali is attributed with the fol-
lowing on “The Transient Nature of Women’s Beauty;” translated in English:
“Black and glory as a bee and curled was my hair;
now in old age it is just like hemp or bark-cloth.
Not otherwise is the word of the truthful. . . .
“My hair clustered with flowers was like a box of sweet perfume;
now in old age it stinks like a rabbit’s pelt.
155. A. L. Basham (1989), pp. 451–480.
130
“Once my eyebrows were lovely, as though drawn by an artist;

now in old age they are overhung with wrinkles.
These literary examples including one of a woman poet reveal a woman’s high
status in the culture of ancient India and the tradition still continues; Urdu/Hindi
poetry or prose literature has never been short of women poets as will be seen later.
5.13 LINGUA EXTINCTORUM INDICA (LEXI) (IN OLD URDU)
There is a consensus among linguists that a group of words in Indian lexicon

does not belong to DR, Vedic, SKT or Munda language families; and an unknown
source has died out and its speakers merged into Indian multitude. The numbers of
such words are quite large, about 450 and constitute about a third of agriculture
nomenclature in Urdu/Hindi and others.
In Urdu’s DNA, this extent language with acronym LEXI is definitely older
than Aryan Vedic and represents another base of the DNA. The words, fished out by
Chatterji156 from the dictionary of Nepali Language, are of everyday use. Some
examples follow: <adda or ar> meaning screen or a temporary partition or hedge,
<anāri> means an unskilled person, a new recruit or plainly foolish, <attakka>
stopped, entangled or obstructed, and <kora> blank or rough, i.e., <kora kaghaz>
means blank paper, a common idiom. The word for foot <goda, gōdda>, originally
thought to be Munda is usually used by village folks but the word for bosom or lap
<gōdh> is found in all languages of north India e.g. common idiom < gōdh mein
lena> to pick up, usually a child, in the lap or gōdh, <khota> blemished or unreal,
forged, e.g. khota dollar, forged dollar bill. <doondhna> is a most common verb
which means to search or look for; other substitute for it <pata lagana> or <daryaft
karna> needing auxiliary are new substitutes. Another word with no substitute is
<pheeka> means bland, expressing deficiency e.g. inadequate salt in a soup or curry
is expressed as “namak” (salt), pkheeka hai (is); the opposite is <ziyāda> Persian for
excessive. An interesting verb <lotna> or <lot lagana> means lying around or rolling
on the floor at leisure, and <lukna> to hide. Many others from this dictionary include:
<gali, galli> a lane, <an-gauccha> a towel or wrapping sheet below waist, <dhota,
dhoti> piece of cloth to wrap around as skirt or around forehead as a scarf; <chedra or
ched> a pit or hole, <ummandna> used as a verb to mean springing up or coming on
aggressively, e.g., <badal ka ummandna> clouds surge.
The chapter reviewed the emergence of the oldest Urdu/Hindi, or PKT, with the
integration of the third foreign language, SKT, and its regional variation. It also
reviewed the origin of SKT from West Asia, its growth by loan in India, and its dom-
156. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 91-99.
131
inant cultural and literary role, laying the foundation for Urdu/Hindi. Both SKT and
PKT, having had world-class literature, created a sound basis for a modern language.
SKT/PKT relationship, discussed in the chapter, also clarified their independence and
interdependence. It also defined the lack of evidence for the genetic birth of PKT
from SKT. The chapter reviewed various literatures and highlighted its linkage with
West Asian culture, religion, and ideas. And finally it examined the contribution of
the linguistic element, LEXI, part of Urdu’s DNA molecule. Further evolution of old
Urdu involves infusion of Arabic and Persian from the oldest source, Mesopotamia.
132
CHAPTER VI. ARABIC-PERSIAN: NEW SUBSTRATES FROM
THE MIDDLE EAST
6.0 INTRODUCTION
Arabic and Persian, the twin languages identified with Islam, may really be
featured as “old wines” in new bottles from the grand linguistic winery, “Meso-
potamia.” Their evolution, as hybrids from various fossil elements, had run a parallel
interactive course since about 1000 BC. Just to recap, Arabic arose from Semitic type
Akkadian, Assyrian, and Aramaic, which had absorbed Sumerian, while Persian
arose from Hittite, absorbing Elamite, and elements from Arabic’s ancestor, Assyrian
and Aramaic, before achieving its final shape.
The arrival of Arabic and Persian did bring some old shared vocabulary in
altered phonetics and also a lot of newly created ones. Besides this, they brought the
newly reformed PAS script, the APS, which had developed around AD 300. Although
the evolution of Arabic, Persian, SKT, and PKT has been purely a secular phe-
nomenon of utilitarian value; SKT and PKT as noted had acquired religious labels.
The same happened to Arabic, though much later. Despite various Quranic exhorta-
tions (chapter I), Arabic, a utilitarian hybrid of West Asia, came to be viewed as
Islamic. Likewise, Persian, having been initially christened as the Zoroastrians’
divine language, had also achieved an “Islamic status,” only because of Iranian
adoption of the new faith, again revealing the fact that languages have no religion but
are given a label.
The “Islamic religion” which arrived with Arabic and Persian speakers had
arisen in the Middle East from the same ancient Sumerian-Babylonian ideas, which
had earlier evolved into IRS in India and Judeo-Christian religion in the west. Islamic
concepts consisting of “Human right egalitarianism, social justice, rule of law, Karma
(deeds) based salvation under one god,” a package of ideas that according to the
Quran itself had been delivered to all people in all regions through regional languages
since creation which happened in an unknown antiquity.
133
Further evolution of Urdu/Hindi is intimately related to the interaction of

Islamic ideas and IRS and with the evolution of “secular Indianness” and relegation
of religion to the private realm. This hybrid, “Indianness,” though viewed by most
historians as a synthesis of two streams, Hindu and Muslim, was indeed concordant
with the world view around AD 1000, polarized as Islamic West Asia, Christian
Europe, and Hindu India etc. But based on revelation in Mesopotamia, this was
largely erroneous. Languages and culture are a geographic phenomenon, distinct
from religious evolution. Indian language and culture are India-specific, and not
Hindu, and likewise, Arabic and Middle Eastern culture of some 10,000 years is
incorrectly labeled Islamic; it is West Asian or Arabic culture. People change their
religious belief but maintain their language and culture. Good examples are Turkey,
Indonesia, and Pakistan, all Islamic but with diverse languages and culture.
Realistically speaking, a composite hybrid evolving language and culture
system in India of some 10,000 years had kept its momentum after this new dose, also
from West Asia. A short review of history provides the essential context for the next
stage of Urdu’s evolution.
6.1 HISTORY’S MARCH
Arabic and Persian as noted arrived with the invasion of Mohammad-bin-

Qasim, the Arab General (AD 712), who occupied the whole of Sindh and Multan
and brought in both Arabic and Persian speakers. Further social evolution created
“Indian Muslims” by conversion and intermarriages. Sindhi language acquired
Arabic script and enriched its vocabulary; an important contribution of this phase is
an Arabic translation of the Mahabharat,157 the first in any language after SKT.
Mehmud of Ghazna (an Afghan city 30 miles from the Pakistan-Afghan
border), a Muslim Turk in 900 AD replaced the Arabs and took over all of Western
India, including Gujrat, Punjab, and parts of Western U.P. This large segment of India
was the eastern end of a very large empire covering Central Asia and Iran. The capital
later shifted from Ghazna to Lahore. Mehmud is one of the most hated kings among
Hindus, known as idol breaker of many temples. But he is also well known as a
patron of culture and learning. Two famous names, Alberuni, a scientist, mathema-
tician, and a SKT scholar, and famous Firdausi, had belonged to his court. Firdausi,
by writing Shahnama, the Persian epic, laid the foundation for modern Persian.
Several historians, Nehru, 158 Romilla Thaper 159 and others, have lauded about
Mehmud’s contributions in arts and culture.
Alberuni pioneered the first book on India’s religion, languages, and culture,
and had noticed similarities between the IRS and Islam. It was a creative phase in its
own way with alliances with neighboring Hindu kings which lasted about two cen-
turies evolving a bureaucracy and army inclusive of both Muslims and Hindus and
157. S. K. Chatterji (1972), Vol. III, p. 7.

158. J. L. Nehru (1997), pp. 234–37.
159. R. Thaper (1990), pp. 229–240.
134
Chapter VI. Arabic-Persian: New Substrates from the Middle East
even Hindu generals. But another Muslim, Mohammad Ghouri, defeated Ghaznavids
and also their Hindu ally, Delhi’s Hindu king, Prithviraj, and established a Sultanat
(government) at Delhi (1192). Ghouri returned and died, but his appointed governor,
Qutub Uddin Aibak, became the first Muslim king of Delhi. The defeat of Prithviraj
is remembered with grief in the literature as a defeat of Hindu king by a Muslim for-
eigner, apparently without realization that Prithvi Raj was himself an ally of the
Ghaznavids, who were Muslims. And he himself was not anti-Muslim; many Muslim
Sufis, like Chisti, lived under his care. This “slave dynasty” lasted for 100 years and
covered all of Northern India.
This phase was followed by the Khiljis, another Turkish group. Allauddin
Khilji conquered the south, taking the north Indian hybrid Hindi language to the
south; later on another King Tughlaq did the same by moving his capital to the south
with his army and civil servants. Tughlaqs, another Turkish group, was replaced by
Lodis (also Muslim) of Punjab; Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by another Turk, Babur
(1525), who founded the Mughal Empire famous for its composite culture that had
Hindu and Muslim participants in every sphere as Indians as noted by Oxford histo-
rians160 and many others.
6.2 THE ROLE OF ARABIC/PERSIAN
After arrival of Islam, Arabic Persian interfaced with Old Urdu/PKT’s and the
latter began its Hindi phase. Arabic of this era (7–16 century AD) had become the
world’s richest language by acquisition of sciences, with the help of SKT and Greek
scholars at the Universities at Baghdad. Arrival of Arabic was like the arrival of
English in 19th century India. The quest for learning by Indians from Arabic has been
recorded by Alberuni,161 who had spent years with Hindu scholars and students. He
has recorded as follows:
. . .on having made some progress (socially), I began to show them the elements
on which science rests, to point out to them some rules of logical deductions and
the science of all mathematics, and then they flocked together around me, from all
parts, wondering and most eager to learn from me, asking me at the same time from
what Hindu master (Guru or teacher) I had learnt those things. . . they almost
thought me to be a sorcerer.
The basic human nature to learn, even from foreigners, thus set the stage for
teachers like Alberuni and perhaps countless others unknown towards the grand syn-
thesis. The status of Old Urdu or Upbhramsha during AD 1000–1100 in earliest
hybridized form is hardly known, but Alberuni, the polylinguist, did not have much
optimism for it. In commenting on the language science he had noted some diffi-
culties and problems. He stated:
160. Percival Spear (1994), pp. 235–242.

161. Ainsille T. Embree (1971), p. 23.
135
“The Hindus, like other people, boast of enormous range of their language,
whilst in reality it is a defect. Further, the language is divided into a neglected ver-
nacular one, only in use among the common people, and a classical one, only in use
among the upper and educated classes, which is much cultivated and subject to the
rules of grammatical inflection and etymology and to the niceties of grammar and
rhetoric.”
Commenting about PKT’s and SKT apparently, he goes on to characterize the
phonetics and writing problem:
“Besides, some of the sound (consonants) of which the language is composed
are neither identical with the sounds of Arabic and Persian, nor resemble them in
any way. Our tongue and uvula could scarcely manage to correctly pronounce them,
nor our ears in hearing to distinguish them from similar sounds, nor could we trans-
literate them with our characters (alphabets/letters).”
Not withstanding the problem of difficult phonemes and retro-flex sounds
lacking special alphabets in Arabic, Old Urdu continued making progress with
expansion and the change of political scene in Indian life. The two languages of
Alberuni, Persian and Arabic, after all, helped enrich the evolving Upbramshas into
Modern Urdu, which created its own alphabets. Arabic, because of its high inflec-
tions, including root inflections, was an alien as much as SKT, for the same reason. It
enriched the evolving hybrid, but never became a conversational language.
Its inflectional power, accounting for three numbers, two genders and tenses,
could create numerous words from a root; e.g., root <badal> meaning exchange could
generate 109 forms; Urdu/Hindi could use only two, <badla> change, exchange,
revenge and <badli> transfer or exchange, to suit its own grammar.
136
6.3 ARABIC-PERSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS
The twins, which provide about 20–25% of Urdu’s vocabulary, are still taught as
second languages throughout the subcontinent. History had these two intertwine since
ancient times. Modern Persian has almost 50% of its vocabulary from Arabic and/or its
predecessors. Arabic has a rich literature; and dominates much of Muslim people (pop.
1.5 billion) as an L.R.R. Persian, which always had some influence in the northwest,
served for almost a thousand years as an administrative language of India.
The evolution of Persian, through absorption of PED, discussed in chapter II
and III, has impacted its linguistic features. Its phonetic system, similar to Urdu, as
discussed in chapter III, does include Arabic sounds. Persian does have verb flexion
but almost no case flexion; it utilizes a lot of auxiliary verbs, e.g., <kardan> do or
does or <ast> is, similar to Urdu.
In syntax, Persian uses SOV type, a legacy of Sumerian and PED and a feature
of modern Dravidian as well as Urdu. Another feature of the Dravidian family, in
Persian, includes a liberal use of suffixes, with a tendency to agglutinate. Suffixes
from Persian dominate Urdu/Hindi; we will review later. Persian’s dominant conso-
nants [p], and [c], seem to be another PED Legacy. Because of its significant resem-
blance with Urdu/Hindi and Dravidian, Persian perhaps did not encounter much
difficulty in its Indian career. Persian still enjoys the status of LRR for the Zoroastrian
community in Iran, Bombay, Karachi, and elsewhere. Avesta,162 the holy book of
Zoroastrians, does resemble Hindu’s Rig Veda and contains Babylonian legends. It’s
divided into five parts as follows: 1) Yāsna with poetic gathas; 2) Vispred, 3)
Vedidad, having priestly codes, 4) Yahsts with songs and praises, and 5) Khordab
Avesta, containing prayers for various occasions.
Compared to Persian, Arabic never attained a literary or conversational status
in India, except in a few religious institutions like Deoband and Nadwa (Lucknow) in
U.P. The Quran and its numerous commentaries, Islamic jurisprudence, and prophets’
tradition existed mainly in Arabic and later in Persian until 17–18th century; its
position as a language of Islam is well respected. But as LBW and LST of Arab
world, Arabic did accumulate voluminous literature as we will see.
The Arabic alphabetic system, based on phonetics, as noted in earlier chapter II
and III, is similar to Urdu, minus retro-flexes, [c], [g] and [p] sounds. As many as six
special sounds listed (Table VI. 1) are part of Urdu/Hindi. Persian also uses them,
except qaf [q], which it substitutes with ghaien [gh]. Their correct pronunciation is
dependent on early training, parental usage, and cultural factors. These are difficult
sounds for an untrained speaker; children do adopt them effortlessly even as a second
language. The uninitiated, or untrained, speaker uses close substitutes (Table VI. 1),
e.g., jebra for zebra, and pox for fox.
Of some 500,000 words in Urdu, about one fifth, or 100,000, from Arabic-
Persian, resonates everywhere in the subcontinent. We hear, see, and read them
through the utilitarian Urdu/Hindi. Even the illiterate villagers in the remotest of
Indian villages use Arabic-Persian words in daily speech, e.g., <ādmi> man, <āurat>
162. William Durant, Vol. I (XIII), p. 366.
137
woman, <kalam> pen, <mazdur> laborer, <zarūr> must, <ziyada> more, <kam> less,
and <cheez> thing. Food items, such as <jalebi> a sweet snack, or <samosa> salty, a
pyramidal snack, etc., are also common words. Thousands of street friendly Arabic-
Persian words are the secret of show business, Urdu/Hindi films, stage plays, songs,
and Hindi-Urdu poetry. Persian-Arabic words, in fact, became popular quite early on
and even found a way into religious compositions, such as “Ramayan.”
In the review of etymology of Arabic-Persian, we will discuss the Arabic and
Persian verbs separately (Table VI. 2, Table VI . 3) as their numbers run into several
hundreds. Many more from Persian than Arabic, they have created spin-offs, running
in thousands. Other elements, nouns and adjectives from the two will be discussed
together with socio-cultural perspectives. Review and recognition of these loans in
everyday use of Hindi and Gujrati, etc., may surprise those who believe that Arabic/
Persian words are to be found in Urdu only.
6.4 ARABIC VERBS IN URDU/HINDI
Arabic verbs have generated an enormous number of words for Urdu/Hindi as

well as Persian. A small sample of some twenty-five are chosen from John Mace’s
book163 on Arabic and also from the Persian-English dictionary,164 a classic of 1885
having some 50,000 entries with almost half of them Arabic. The entries in the table
include the Arabic root, its meaning and a few spin-off words current in Urdu. They
are part of the current street speech, print media, and show business.
Most words and derivatives are clearly identifiable by people of the subcon-
tinent. Some very common ones include <jama> gather, collect, which gives us an
Urdu verb <jamna> to freeze, <kitab> book, <khabar> news, <sūrat> face, <tasvir>
picture/photograph, <şarāb> alcohol drink, <safar> journey, <zulam> tyranny,
<ziyāda> more, and <zarūri> necessary. Many of them have created quality spin-offs,
such as <habeeb> loved, <muhabbat> love, <mehbooba> beloved, and <ilm>
learning, creates <ālim> learned, <mullah> teacher. For show business and the film
industry the key words Muhabbat, love; haseen/ hasina, beautiful, <qātil> murderer,
<nazar> eye, <şarabi> alcoholic, and <badla> revenge provide a wide assortment in
the table. The word <hasan> represents a mutual loan, with unknown direction
between Arabic and Dravidian.
The word nazar, meaning eye, or sight, is part of the cultural idiom — <nazar
lag jāna>, meaning “evil eye effect,” and used in the whole subcontinent. The word
<faida> from, number five 5, meaning “profit” enjoys extensive use, as does all other
derivatives, <faidey mand> and <bey-faida> “profitable” and “non-profitable,”
respectively. The root <mulk # 13> meaning “country” does extend into other senses,
creating <mālik> owner or boss, used as a surname, and transcending all regions, reli-
gions, and languages of the subcontinent, e.g., Suresh Malik and Salim Malik are
common Hindu and Muslim names, respectively.
163. John Mace (1999).

164. Fazli Ali (1999).
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Table VI.2
Arabic Verbs in Urdu/Hindi
ARABIC ROOT
URDU OTHER URDU FORMS (MEANINGS)
ROOT MEANINGS
1. aman aman safety, peace aman (secure), ameen (trust)
2. akheer akhr delayed takheer (delayed), akhir (last)
3. badal badal exchange badla (revenge), tabadla (transfer)
4. dawa da-ou allege, invite dawat (feast), dawa (lawsuit)
5. mufeed feed benefit, useful faida (profit), efad (to benefit)
6. ghai-r ghai-r other, alien waghai-ra (etc.), be ghai-r (without)
7. habeeb hab love, loved muhabbat (love), mehboob (beloved)
8. hasan hasn good, well haseen (beautiful), ahsan (favour)
9. ilm ilm learning alim (learned), malum (informed)
10. jama jama collect, gather majma (crow), jamana (freeze)
11. kitab kutub book, to write katib (writer), maktab (school)
12. kasir kasr excess, much kasrat (excess), aksar (often)
13. mulk mulk acquire malik (owner), mulky (country man)
14. intizar nazr await, see nazar (see), nazeer (observer)
15. qatal qatl to kill qatil (killer), maqtul (one, killed)
16. qaum qaum reside, nation muqam (site), qayam (stay)
17. khabar khabar inform, news akhbar (newspaper), mukhbir (informer)
18. surat sur image tasvir (picture), tasawwur (imagination)
19. sarab sarab to drink sarabi (alcoholic), sharbet (juice)
20. safar safar travel, journey musafir (traveller), safir (ambassador)
21. waris waras inherit, heir warsa (legacy), warisi (heriditary)
22. wajud wajd existence maujud (present), ejad (discovery)
23. ziyada zaid more, excess mazeed (more), ziyadati (excess)
24. zulm zulm oppression zalim (oppressor), mazlum (sufferer)
25. zikar zikr mention, speech zakir (speaker), tazkira (talk)
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6.5 PERSIAN VERBS IN URDU/HINDI
Persian verbs are much more numerous in Urdu, and impact all Indian lan-
guages, because of long historical traditions. Persian, or its predecessors, Elamite and
Aramaic, in fact, had always maintained its influence in the northwest. Besides
Arabic, Persian too provides the continuity of the few oldest known verbs of mankind
<kar> to do, <ku-ra> eat. These Sumerian words (Table III.1) became Persian
<kardan> passed into Urdu and <khurdan> to eat and āb for water, etc., and another
word for moving or walking <cal>, from the PED is shared with the Dravidian family
(Table III. 2). It does have other Dravidian words passed into Urdu directly through
the Mundravi stage. Persians IE connection (Table III. 5) gives us the Persian
<danish> to know and <band> to tie. Persian has naturalized some loan verbs e.g.,
Dravidian loan <cal> and Arabic <fahm> became the Persian root or “masdar”
<cālidan> to move or walk and <fahmidan> to understand (Table VI. 2 . A -#’s 8 and
16). Persian verb loans to Urdu/Hindi are really quite extensive, almost as much as
from Munda and Dravidian. A sample of fifty is a fair representation (Table VI. 2).
Alphabetically arranged with the lead Urdu word followed by its Persian root,
its meaning, and some derivatives, the verbs really speak for themselves. An Urdu/
Hindi speaker should have no problem in their identification. They are commonly
spoken words of Urdu or Hindi and also other languages (IA dialects). Bengali, esti-
mated by Dr. Chatterji, had some 20,000 words prior to its purification or regressive
process during its national renaissance. Each of these verbs, if not used as verbs, has a
derivative in current speech; for example, <āmdan> to come, created <khusmad>
flattery, <āndazidan> created <andāza> estimation or guessing, and <calidan>
created many spin-offs like <cālu> street-smart/clever/shrewd, <cāl-calan> character,
<cālān> a government invoice for a fine or other payment, and <cālāk> clever. The
SKT word <catur> for clever is also current. Number 9 and 10 may surprise many.
“Election” in Persian <cunāo> to pick is current, and so is “to collect money as con-
tribution” <canda>.
Persian verb run the business through buying <kharidna> (#23) and selling
<farokht-karna> (#15). Numbers 24 and 26, as masdars, are not current, but their
derivatives are popular, e.g., <khudkashi> meaning suicide, and <khowahish> desire,
<koşis> to strive are commonly used. <numa>, to show, is used a lot, but <numaish>,
exhibition, is more popular. The word <pecidan> (#31) has important derivatives:
<painch> screw, <painch kuş> screw driver, <pechish> dysentery for intestinal, colic
or contortion. From its sense of turning comes <pecida> complicated, <pecidgi>
complication. Some other current ones in popular speech include <paida hona> birth
(# 38), <parişhāni> distress (# 37), <pasand-karna> to like or approve (#33),
<talashi> to search (#44), <rasid> receipt (#41). Words such as <sunna> to hear
(#49), <tarasna> desire (#45), are shared with SKT. The word <pak> pure, or clean, is
the basis for the name Pakistan. Lastly, the word <paiwand> a patch to cover a torn
garment is unique and currently used. Many others in the table really do not need
elaboration, and there are still others that will come up for discussion later.
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6.6 GENERAL VOCABULARY FROM ARABIC-PERSIAN
6.6.1 Relationship Words
As noted earlier, most of the basic lexicon of family systems come from
Munda-Dravidian, and Persian-Arabic only provide a limited number of originals to
beef up the variety for the poets. Originals include <nāna-nāni> maternal grand
parents, <navāsa-navasi> grandchildren from a daughter, and the word for son-in-law
<damād>. Some additional words are from Arabic; they include <khala-khalu>
maternal aunt and uncle, <vālid-valida> father-mother, <aulād> progeny; and from
Persian <bachcha-bachchi> infant boy and girl, plural form being <bachchey> a
generic term for children. The word for man-woman <mard-aurat> and <ādmi> and
<insān> meaning human being, seem to be more popular than the Dravidian manush
or manai.
6.6.2 Food, Fruits and Edibles, etc.
The entire menu of an Indian restaurant is full of Arabic-Persian names;

<kabāb>, <nān> bread, <pulao-pilāf> and <biryāni> aromatic fried rice with meat,
<qeema> minced meat, <goşt> meat, <qōrma> meat curry, <panír> cheese, and
<sabzi> — “green” in Persian — vegetables. On the dessert side, we have Arabic
words, too, such as, <halwa> and in Persian <batāşa> sweet snack. Other names are
specific in Arabic due to the various kinds of sweet, i.e., <jalebi>, and in Persian
<burfi> white fudge. A popular triangular pattie which is now an international name
<somosa> or < sambosa> is Persian via the prefix sa, meaning three. However, others
such as <acār> pickles, <maska> butter, and <şharbat-sharāb> a drink are familiar,
but the Persian word <baraf> is the only one for ice in Urdu/Hindi.
Many nuts and fruits bear Persian labels, for example, <angūr> grapes,
<sangtrah> a kind of orange, <seb> apple, <khūbāni> apricot, <kharbūza> melon,
<tarbūz> water melon, <meywah> fruits, <anār> pomegranate, <piştachio> and
<kishmish> raisins, <cilghōza> pine nuts. Many others have to be excluded for
brevity.
6.6.3 Household Items/Environment
Many items associated with cooking and serving are also related to Persian
names. These are: <cāmca> spoon, <cāqu> knife, <piyala> cup, <taştari> plate,
<seni> tray, <daighchi> cooking pot, <tawa> hot iron plate, <kafgir> mixing/serving
spatula, <rakābi> metalic plate, <pateeli> cooking utensil, <bawarchi> cook, and
<bāwarchi- khāna> the kitchen. The Persian word for oven is < tandūr/tanūr>, with
the famous tandoori bread, or chicken, or kabab as a spin-off.
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Table VI.3 Persian Verbs in Urdu/Hindi
PERSIAN PERSIAN
URDU OTHER URDU URDU OTHER URDU
ROOT ROOT
WORD DERIVATIVES WORD DERIVATIVES
(meaning) (meaning)
amdan khus-amad
1 Amad 27 nasisht nashistan nasisht (sit, rest)
(to come) (flattery)
asanidan
2 Asan asani (ease) 28 numa namoden numaish (show)
(ease)
andazidan
3 Andaz andaza (measure) 29 pukhta pukhtan pukhta (firm)
(estimate)
4 Afsana afsanidan fasana (table) 30 poshida pushidan poshida (hidden)
afridan pecidan
5 Afrid farid (creator) 31 pecida pecida (wrap)
(create) (wrap)
azmudan
6 azmana azmaya (tested) 32 parwaz parwazidan parwaz (fly)
(test)
Baksh
7 Bakhsna bakh sis (forgiven) 33 pasand pasandidan pasand (like)
(excuse)
calidan
8 Calna calu (fast mover) 34 parwarda parwardan parwarda (raise)
(move)
cunidan pakidan
9 Cunna cunao (election) 35 pak pak (pure land)
(elect) (pure)
ceedan canda (contri-
10 Canda 36 painda paindan paidar (firm)
(seek) bution)
Dadan parishanida
11 Dena diya (given) 37 parishan paresani (stress)
(to give) n
deedan chasm deed paidai
12 Deed 38 paida paidaesh (birth)
(seek) (eyewitness) (bore)
danistan
13 Danis danis (wise) 39 paiwand paiwandan paiwand (patch)
(to know)
paimaish
14 farmana farmudan firmaesh 40 paimaish paimudan
(measure)
farokhtan rasidan
15 Farokht farokht 41 rasid rasad (supply)
(sell) (reach)
16 Faheem fahmidan fahmida (wise) 42 rasai rasunidan rasai (approach)
17 Farefta fareftan fareb (deception) 43 tapna tapidan tapish (heat)
18 Farakh farakhidan farakh (expansive) 44 talash talashidan talashi (search)

giraftan
19 Giraft giraftar (arrested) 45 tarasna tarsidan tarsa (desired)
(arrest)
20 Guzar guzardan guzarna (to pass) 46 tarashna tarshidan tarashna (shave)
josidan uftadan
21 Josh josila (excited) 47 uftad
(boil) (fall)
varzidan
22 Khwab khwabidan khwab (dream) 48 varz varzish (workout)
(sport)
kharidan
23 Kharid kharida (bought) 49 sunna sunidan suna (heard)
(buy)
kashidan
24 kashi Khudkashi 50 shikast shikastan shikast (defeat)
(pull)
koshidan shustan
25 Koshish koshan (striver) 51 shusta shaista (clean)
(strive) (wash)
26 Khwahi khwastan Khwahish
Among numerous terms related to household and general physical environ-

mental items are: <makān> a house and its various parts, <dewār> wall, <darwaza>
door, <manzil> story/levels, <ghusul khāna> bathroom, <pākhāna> toilet, <farş> the
142
floor. Household furniture and accessories include a lot of Persian-Arabic words:

<bistar> bed/bedding, <palang> bed, <sofa>/<kursi> chair, <qāleen> carpet, <lahaf>
comforter/quilt, <toşhak> mattress, <takia> pillow, and <chadar> bed sheet, etc.
For outside the house, we also have plenty of words; these are <dunya, jahan>
Arabic-Persian for the world, <bazar> market, <dukān> shop, <rah, rasta> road or
way, <darya, naher> river, <talāb> pond or pool, <darakht> tree, <jungle> forest,
<mulk> country, <şaher> city, <qasba> town, <dehāt-dehāti> village/villager, <bagh,
caman, jannat> all mean garden, and <firdaus> also garden which corrupted as par-
adise in Greek to mean heaven, <āsmān> sky, <zamin> earth/ground, <aftāb> sun,
<mahtāb> moon, <roşni> light, <hawa> air, <āb> water, <abr> cloud, <sitāra, akhtar,
tara> all for stars, and <khāk> soil which creates khaki, famous slacks, <maidān>
playground, <pul> bridge, and <mahal> a mansion, a palace, a suffix used in the
famous Taj Mahal, <mahalla> a hamlet or neighborhood which has another word
<basti>.
The Persian suffix -ganj, -ābad, -astan, make thousands of places, i.e., Haz-
aratganj, Allahabad, and Turkistan, etc. This list is certainly not exhaustive.
Other common household words include <reşam> silk, <libas, poshak>
garment, <kameez> shirt, <pyjāma> trouser, <jeb> pocket, <romāl> handerchief,
<āsteen> sleeve, <bijli> electricity/electric, <tar> cord/wire, <āiena> mirror, <itr>
perfume, <cirāgh> lamp, <shama> candle, and <rang> color.
Animal Names
Popular words for animals are: <sher> lion, in every jungle/animal story,
<babers> also lion, <murg> chicken, <charinda> generic for cattle and <parinda> for
birds, and <janwar> for all animals. <khar-goşh> Persian for rabbit, is a compound
word from khar meaning ass and goşhear; Rabbit does have ass like ears. Hunting as
a sport is called <shikār> to hunt, <shikari> a hunter and <banduq> a gun.
Professions, Titles, etc.
The words related to education in daily usage are: <kitab> book, <kaghaz>
paper, <kalam> pen, <waraq> paper leaf, <subaq> lesson, <darja> grade, <sawal>
question, <jawāb> answer, <hisab> math, <madarsa> school, <ustād, moulvi>
teacher, <şagird> student, <imtihān> exam, <natija> result, and <inām> reward,
prize.
In the medical field some current ones include <hakeem> physician, <nuskha>
prescription, <ilāj> treatment, <bimār, mareez> patient, <bimāri, marz> illness or
disease, <dawa> medicine, <parhez> precaution during therapy, <bukhār> fever,
<dard> pain, <zakham> wound, <marham> ointment, <nazla-zukām> cold and flu,
<peychiş> diarrhea, and <qai> vomit. These common words are part of daily speech.
However, many other diagnostic terms are excluded for brevity.
Most terms in the legal professions are really Arabic-Persian driven; they are
numerous; some of these are: <vakeel> lawyer, <adālat> court, <munsif> a judge,
<insāf> justice, <qānūn> law, <qaid-qaidi> prison-prisoner, <saza> punishment,
<rehāi> release, and <mujrim> a criminal.
In every conceivable profession/business, one can find Arabic-Persian terms, a
natural outcome of centuries of cultural intercourse. From the large list, some are:
<sārkar> government, with hundreds of spin-offs, <naukar-cākar> servant, <quli>
143
porter, <sirdār> leader, <dushman-dost> enemy-friend, <pahelwān> wrestler,

<mazdur> laborer, <julaha> weaver, from Persian, <julah> spider, <shair> poet,
<adakar> actor, <najumi> astrologer, <mallah> boatsman, <uchakka> pickpocket, <
dalāl> middleman or agent, <sipahi> soldier, <bisāti> peddler, <bazāz> cloth mer-
chant, <chowkidar> watchman, and <darzi> tailor.
6.6.6 Body Parts
Most names really are from Dravidian, Munda, and SKT, but Persian-Arabic
provides some additional ones, with differing phonetics, which are useful in literature
and poetry. The two words for body <badan> and <jisam> along with SKT <şharir>
is one such example. The words <dil> heart, <dimāgh> or <maghaz> brain, <khūn>
blood, <zabān> tongue, <nakhun> nail, and <seena> chest are common in daily
usage. Others, such as <post> skin, <lab> lips, <peşāni> forehead, <zulf> hair locks,
<dast> hand, are also fairly common but in literary writing. Two words for eyes,
<chaşm> in Persian, and Arabic, <aien> are more literary, but provide spin-offs for
eyeglasses, <chasman> and <aienak>.
6.6.7 Adjectives and Adverbs
Making adjectives and verbal nouns from verb roots has been the skill of the
man in the street, creating a voluminous bank of words which drives every business
of the Urdu/Hindi speaker.
Persian-Arabic has their linguistic features that helped Urdu. Arabic does not
have a separate class of words called adjectives as we know in Urdu or English.
Nouns and adjectives are interchangeable; e.g., in <şakhşunghaniey> rich person;
ghaniey (rich, by itself) means a rich person. Another word like <hasan>, meaning
“beautiful,” can be a proper noun. Persian, however, does have adjectival degrees;
Urdu is the beneficiary. Two example will suffice: < beh> good, <beh-tar> better,
<beh-tareen> best; <bad> bad, <bad-tar> worse, <bad tareen> worst. Clearly, the
process is quite orderly, unlike the mixed-up English language.
Some commonly utilized adjectives in everyday speech include: <kam-
ziyadah> less-more, and nouns from it, kami and ziyadti, <khuş-khuşi> happy-hap-
piness. Several words convey sadness <gham>, <malāl>, <afsos>, <ranj>, <sadma>,
and <takleef> the last one means difficulty or bad time. Good time and comfort words
include <ḩram> rest, <asāiesh> comforts. There are many spin offs from all of these;
others are, <naram> and <mulayam> soft, <āsān> easy, <sakht > and <muşkil> hard
and difficult.
Praise words include <umda> good, <lāiq> capable, or qualified, <tameej-dar>
well-mannered, <behtar> better, <shareef> gentle/humble, and <nek> noble, etc., and
to confer negatives, some are, <bura, bad, kharāb> bad, <bad-tameez> ill-mannered,
<nalaiq> incapable, <bewaqoof> foolish, <bad-māsh> of bad character, <āwāra>
vagabond, <be-sharam> and <be-haya> shameless, <kameena> inferior person, etc.
One can appreciate the wide range of phonemes that convey the similar feeling which
drive the richness of Urdu/Hindi poetry and songs.
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6.6.8 Social-Cultural, and Life of Mind
In the business world, one finds a lot of Arabic-Persian words spoken on the
street, i.e., <nuqsān> loss, <fa-ida> profit, <nafa> gain, <tijarat> business, <māl>
goods, <malik> owner/boss, <naqad> cash, <qarz> loan, <tan-khowāh> salary,
<āmdani> income, <rişhvat> bribe, <Imandar> honest, <be-imān> dishonest, <lālci>
greedy, and <sakhi> charitable. For expressing richness or poverty, we have quite a
few words, such as, <ameer>, <ghani> rich, <daulat mand> wealthy, <raees> rich,
<ghareeb> poor, <faqeer> beggar.
When expressing appearance, one has words such as <khub-surat> beautiful,
<bad-surat> ugly, <haseen, hasan, husain> good/good-looking man, and <husna,
haseena> good-looking ladies. For poets, these particular words are very useful. Poets
use a lot of words related to wine as well; some of them are Arabic rooted: <sharāb>
wine, <sharābi> drinker. Besides these, we have <mai> wine, or spirit, and for the bar
or pub we have <mai-khana>, and <jam> is for wine cup/glass; the word for cup-
bearer is <sāqi>, which comes all the way from Sumeria (Table III.1).
Many words that are used for occasions of marriage and death in Urdu/Hindi
are from Persian-Arabic, some include <shadi> marriage, <nikāk> legal part of mar-
riage among Muslims, <qāzi> a judge who conducts legal marriage, <dāwat> invi-
tation, <rişhta> relationship, <rukhsati> or <bidai> departure of the bride, <jahez> or
<dahez> dowery to bride, <tohfa> gift, <walima> dinner from the bridegroom among
Muslims. Some death words, besides <maut>, include <rahlat> travel, <enteqāl>;
<dafan> burial, <kafan> shroud, <qabar> grave, <janaza> burial ceremony, and
<qabaristan> graveyard, <dozukh> or <jahannum> hell, <jannat> heaven, <sawāb>
good credit, <azāb> divine punishment, <gunah> sin.
Many other words in cultural life include <roz> day, <tareekh> date, <sāl>
year, <par sāl> yesteryear, <garami> summer or heat, <sardi> winter/cold, <rasm,
rivāj> tradition and customs, <şhān> glory, <ān> pride, <ghurur> arrogance, <ābro,
ezzat> respectful status, <tāqat, quwat> power, strength, <gandigi> dirt/mess, <safāi>
cleanliness, <mazhab> religion, <usāl> principles, <jung> war, <etminān> satis-
faction, <cughli> back biting, <shirkat> participation.
Honorifics, prefixes include <janab> Mr., or Sir, and suffix <sahab, sahiba> for
male and female are well known. The suffix <bāno, begum> goes with ladies’ names
and <jān>, as a generic, for elder relatives, i.e., ammi-jān and bhāi jān, mother and
brother respectively. There is a whole lot more and certainly beyond the scope of this
book.
6.6.9 Adverbs, Pronominal and Qualifying Particles
As a matter of fact, it is hard to make conversation without many of these par-

ticles from Persian/Arabic: <agar> if, <magar> but, <bād> after, <bād-ko> after-
wards, <leykin> but, <falan> certain (person), <şa ed> perhaps, <aksar> often,
<beştar> more often, <pur> full, <khali> empty, <taraf> towards (directional),
<vastey> for, <bilkul> certainly yes, <bal ke> but this or that or instead, <fuaran>
immediately, <jaldi> quickly, <albatta> this, not that, <nihāyet> much more, <bār
145
bār> again and again, <musalsal> continuous, <barabar> evened out, <hamesha>
always, <qareeb> near, <nazdeek> near, <dūr> far, <ta> until.
Small particles or conjunctions mainly from Persian include the following:
<ya> or, <har> every, <va> and, <aur> and, anymore, <che> what, <tu> thou, <pus>
then or so, <āya> whether, <onhon, enhon> those, they, etc. Words showing spead
are: <sust> slow, and <tez> fast. Urdu/Hindi speakers use these as part of their
mother tongue, without thinking and regarding the source.
6.7 PLURAL MAKING/GRAMMAR
This involved nouns and adjectives, which under went a Persianization process,
making the speech flexible and rich. The following example illustrates the words
ending in a consonant suffix in or ān:
Singular <aurat> woman →<auratein> women
<auratan> women
English singular word for car→ <cārein> cars
For words ending in a vowel the suffix is -gān:
<banda> person → <bandegān> person.
But Urdu speakers use this rule very rarely and they use the earlier rule for
words ending in a vowel as well; examples are:
<gāri> van/car → <gāriyan> cars/vans
<larki> girl → <larkiyan> girls
More twists in the plural making had followed generating third person plural
such as, <auratoń>, <cāroń>, <larkiyoń> meaning those women, cars, and girls,
respectively.
Arabic plural making, which had impacted Persian did influence Urdu/Hindi
also. But the style is largely confined to literary modes; three types of examples are as
follows:
Singular Plural
<sahab> person, companion → <āshab>
<mazhab> religion → <mazahib>
<manzil> destination → <manazil>
<madarsa> school → <madaris>
In popular Urdu/Hindi speech these words would tend to use Persian rule to
make <manzilein>, etc. Plural making in PKT was limited and used numbers as mod-
ifiers, i.e.,
PKT →<ānkh> eye → <do ānkh> two eyes
Urdu/Hindi → <ānkhein, āńkhon> eyes
In Arabic, for females they add the suffix āt, but Urdu uses this suffix to make
plural for non-animated of either gender; examples follow:
Singular Plural
<sawāl> question→ <sawālāt> questions
<jangal> forest→ <jangalāt> forests
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For masculine Arabic uses –een or –ien, but Urdu uses it for general purpose.
Singular Plural
<sultān> ruler → <sala-teen> rulers
<māhir> expert → <māhir-een> experts.
6.8 PERSIAN AFFIXES
A significantly large group of Persian affixes modify adjectives, verbs, nouns

and adverbs. They decorate Hindi-Urdu speech with a variety of phonemes used by
Hindi and Urdu poets and writers. There is a large list and some examples are as
follows. Urdu words are in angle brackets “<____>” with the English meanings
underneath.
SuffixWords
1. Gi: <zindagi><bandigi>
Zinda (alive) = life, banda (servant) service
2. Mi: <garmi><narmi>
garm (hot) = heat, Nirm (soft) = softness
3. Gār: <madad gar><kihdmat gar>

madad (help) = helper, khidmat (service) = servant
4. Bar: <dilbar><paighambar>
(carrier) dil (heart) = lover (message) = messenger
5. bān or vān:<baghbān><coachvān)
(driver) (Garden) = gardner (coach driver)
6. mand: <daulat mand><aqal mand>

(Wealth) = wealthy (wisdom) = wise
7. chi: <tabal chi><khazān chi>

(drum) = drummer (treasure) = treasurer
8. ak: <dholak><āyeien ak>

(small drum) (eyes = eye glasses)
9. āna: <sāl āna><zānāna

(year = yearly) (lady = for ladies)
10. ba, be: <ba khabar><be rahem>

(with) (without) (with information) (without kindness)
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11. -een: <rangeen><namakeen>

(with or full) (colorful) (salt=saltish)
12. nāk: <khatar nak><sharam nak)

(with or full) (danger=dangerous) (shame=shameful)
There are hundreds of these examples where even non-Persian words fit as
nicely; for instance, using be (without), we have <be dhab> or <be dhanga> unman-
nered, <be dharak> fearless, and <be chain> restless. Other common ones are:
A. bad: <bad chalan><bad surat>

(bad) (character) (looks ugly)
B. khūb: <khūb surat><khūb seerat>

(good) (beautiful) (has a good character)
C. kum: <kumzor><kum-aqal>
(less) (weak) (unwise)
D. dār: <mal dār><phool dar>

(with) (wealthy) (flowery)
E. la: <la waris><la jawab>

(Arabic without) (without owner) (without peer-unique)
In summary, the twins, Persian-Arabic made significant contributions towards

Modern Urdu/Hindi, enriching the vocabulary with diverse senses, meanings, pho-
nemes, and words, and impacted the grammar also. Besides this linguistic hybrid-
ization, the plentiful literature of the twins also had a major impact on the literature of
Urdu/Hindi. A brief glimpse of their literature is certainly relevant.
6.9 A GLIMPSE OF ARABIC LITERATURE
The Quran and related religious literature is enormous in Arabic. Secular liter-
ature also is voluminous, as Arabic had been an LST. Arabic is acclaimed as the most
poetic language, bound by the rules of meter size, rhymes, (radeef and qafia). Arabic
has directly influenced Persian and Urdu and indirectly has provided, according to
Will Durant,165 inspiration to western poets. The art of poetry thrived nowhere so
profusely as in Arabic. Baghdad alone had hundreds of thousands of poets. Arab
poets and philosophers created literature depicting a wide range of thoughts, from
outright atheism to monism, and socio-economic communism, reminiscent of SKT
scholars as noted earlier.
165. William Durant, Vol. VII, pp. 263–267.
148
Hasan Ibn Hani, a former poet, loved wine, women, and his songs, one of his
poems in an English translation from 1920s, as quoted by Will Durant runs as
follows:
“Come, Suleiman! Sing to me,
And the wine, quick, bring to me! . . .
While the flask goes twinkling round,
Pour me a cup that leaves me drowned
With oblivion–ne’er so nigh
Let the shrill muezzin cry!
Accumulate as many sins as thou canst:

The Lord is ready to relax His ire.
When the Day comes, forgiveness thou wilt find
Before a mighty King and gracious Sire;
And gnaw thy fingers all that joy regretting
Which thou didst leave through terror of hell-fire.”
Ideas of sin and wine are a major focus in Urdu ghazals and the sarcasm on
priest-muezzin or “caller to prayer” from the mosque would resonate in some Sufi’s
work, including that of Kabir, to be discussed later.
Al-Māri of the 10th century was astonishingly a strange poet. A pure vege-
tarian, avoiding milk, eggs, honey, and even animal skin shoes, he thought that using
animal products was robbery. His themes, full of skepticism, include the basic
question of life, existence of god, revelation versus reason, etc. He was a rationalist
agnostic pessimist. A satire on anticipated redeemer or Imām Mehdi (believed by
some Muslims to be the second coming of an Imam, or Prophet Jesus) is quoted from
Will Durant, from the 1920s translation of R. A. Nicholason. It runs as follows:
“Some hope that an Imam with prophet’s gaze

Will rise and all the silent ranks amaze.
Oh, idle thought! There’s no Imam but Reason
To point out the morning and the evening ways. . . .
Shall we in these old tales discover truth,
Or are they worthless fable told to you?
And reason swears that they are only lies,
And reason tree bears verity for truth,
How oft, when young, my friends I would defame,
If our religious faiths were not same;
But now my soul had traveled high and low;
Now all save Love, to me, is but a name.
In his 1500 or so poems he targets priests, Imam preachers and even the Hajj
pilgrimage to Mecca. The prose literature of Arabic as noted earlier had been the
medium of high sciences, but voluminous secular works included the famous Arabian
Nights stories, animal fables of Bidpai (borrowed from India) and translated in every
language of the world, and travel stories of Ibn Battuta. Much of this Arabic work
149
sometimes looks strange to non-Arabic Muslims and non-Muslims, who only identify
the Arabic language with dry and strict monotheism. However, the Arabic language,
the richest in the era, with global reach, and the deepest tradition since the Sumerian
time, found its way to help the “neglected vernacular” of Alberuni’s time. For the
Arabs, of course, Arabic is their all-purpose language; LOR, LBW, and LST, and
LRR all are one. But from a global perspective, Arabic literature is a direct inheritor
from man’s oldest, Sumerian (chapter III), which really represents all humanity;
though parochialized wrongly as “Islamic” or Muslims.
6.10 GLIMPSE OF PERSIAN LITERATURE
Various religious themes in Avestan make Persian a LRR of the Zoroastrian

community. Early Persian, or Pahalvi, had gained the political status during Sessanid
(pre-Islamic) Persia and when Jundi-i-Shapur in Susa had become an international
university. Most of the literature of this phase is religious. Modern Persian is really a
product of an Islamic phase, and secular literature took off only after the breaking up
of Abbassid, already an empire when Persia again became an entity. Persian poetry
mainly drew from Arabic and developed its famous format including the Rubai or
quatrain. Major work in Persian, The Shahnama, King’s epic, with stories of Rustam
and Sohrab, etc., was composed by Firdausi, who was patronized by Sultan
Mahmood of Gazna, who was known to have some 400 poets in his court. Another
jewel of his court, as mentioned earlier, was the famous Alberuni, who also wrote in
Persian.
The famous work of the well-known Sufi master, Rumi, is Masnawi, in
Persian, a classic translated in every language. Persian has produced thousands of
poets and several hundreds of them in India. Famous names include Saadi, Nizami,
Hafiz, and the famous Omar Khaiyyām, who also excelled in mathematics, in
addition to his popular quatrains. Regarding Hafiz Shiraz from the city of Shiraz in
Iran, Emerson had this to say, “A poet for poets, he sees too far, he sees through-
outsuch is the only man I wish to be.” Hafiz’s work, delightful to say the least, has
been a model to emulate by poets of all languages, including Urdu and Bengali.
Persian and Arabic poetry and their secular philosophy can be traced to the
oldest of human poetry, the ideas of Hafiz seeming to be just an echo of the five-
thousand-year-old Sumerian Shamas-Napistim from the epic of Gilgamesh. This rich
heritage of Persian and Arabic and their predecessors resonates in the Urdu/Hindi tra-
dition, as we will see in a later chapter. Urdu/Hindi sits on a global base rooted in
Mesopotamia.
Persian poetry, especially by Hafiz and Khayyam, was the passionate indul-
gence of many orientalists including Sir William Jones. Hafiz’s writing on wine,
women, and love has inspired writeres in all languages, especially Urdu/Hindi,
Bengali. A quotation from the famous Diwan of Hafiz is as follows:166
166. Mohammad Qazvini and Ghani Qasem (2000), p. 46.
150
“The secret draught of wine and love repressed are joys foundation less — then
come whatever may come, slave to the grape I stand conferred.”
The chapter reviews the role of two new languages in the subcontinent, Persian
and Arabic, in the evolution of Modern Urdu/Hindi. The mechanics of growth,
namely bilingualism and naturalization of the new import, would play out to usher in
“the Hindi.” The chapter also recorded the origin of the first translation of Hindu’s
religious book, Mahabharat, in Arabic. The chapter covered copious examples of
Persian and Arabic vocabulary, thoroughly indigenized and diffused in Hindu reli-
gious literature. A literature review of Arabic/Persian establishes a deep connection
between the Urdu/Hindi tradition and man’s oldest literature, Sumerian. The next
chapter deals with the process of hybridization, integration, and evolution towards the
next stage — Hindi.
151
CHAPTER VII. LANGUAGE OF SAINTS AND SULTANS
7.0 INTRODUCTION
The advent of Arabic-Persian through Islam started two simultaneous pro-

cesses; one was the evolution of all regional languages, especially the Sauerseni
Upbrahmsha or old Urdu to become “Hindi” or “Hindiwi” as it was called then. This
slow process would assimilate or absorb the new vocabulary, Arabic phonetic
package, and APS. The second concomitant process was the rise of a “New Indi-
anness” through the integration of the IRS and Islamic doctrine. In the linguistic
growth, vocabulary was the easiest and earliest to integrate, followed by script; but
phonetic acquisitions were the most difficult and never achieved its full potential, nor
could they, since they are dependent on regional, cultural, and literacy factors like
everywhere else in the world, e.g. the Arabs cannot assimilate [p], [g] or [c] pho-
nemes., the Southeast Asians, Bengalis, and others cannot acquire [v], [f] or [z] etc.
Script acquisition was in fact the most cementing and unique process, nec-
essary in the evolution of the Indians’ “national awareness” or political integration.
India, which never had an integrating script, had been divided along regional script
lines; even SKT never had a uniform script. APS apparently was the real power
behind Urdu when the British made it their official language; English language now
enjoys that power. The advent of this phase, however, has been viewed differently
after 19th-20th century; for many Hindu nationalists it was slavery or a national shame
and for secular academic types just another phase of dynamic history. Some feature it
as hybrid of Hindu and Islamic cultures with India projected as Hindu, an entity
inclusive of religion, culture, and language. The author, however considers language
and culture to be separate from religion, though cultures sometimes do overlap
religion. For example, religious rituals, congregational prayers, religious festivals,
death and mourning rituals, marriage ceremonies etc., which constitute the ideo-
logical or “spiritual-religion cultural package,” in fact is easily discernible from
regional/material and linguistic culture; the latter is fixed geographic or regional
while the former is sublime and mobile.
153
Indian material culture (non-spiritual) as noted in Chapter IV, founded by

Austric-Munda and Dravidian people, and consisting of local food, bread type, fruits,
vegetables, rice, sugar, cotton, textiles, brick homes, dress, cooking recipes, type of
utensils, transportation system, use of elephants, farming practices, coinage, mar-
keting practices, building/architecture, and physical appearance of men constitute a
distinct entity in comparison to the West Asian or Chinese cultures; it is distinct from
Hindu religion.
This cultural package with language PKT or old Urdu, evolved into a new
“Indianness” in a few centuries; the two religious systems also impacted the politics,
besides influencing each other. Prof. Tarachand, a leading 20th century historian, has
detailed the mutual impact. A quotation captures the spirit:
The Muslims did not bring with them from beyond the Indian frontiers, arti-
sans, accountants, and clerks. The buildings were erected by Hindus, who adapted
their ancient rules to newer conditions; their coins were stuck by Hindus and Mus-
lims and their accounts were kept by Hindu officers. Brahman legists advised the
Kings on the administration of Hindu laws, and Brahman astrologers helped in the
performance of their general function.
Mixing of the two belief systems had a great influence on both. The Sufi phi-
losophy of Islam — “peace with all” — was readily accepted by Hindu Saints and
people in general. Other Islamic practices such as “worship” at tombs of saints or so-
called “deviation” or “shirk” by orthodox Muslims took significant hold even among
Hindus. According to Prof. Tarachand, the Islamic belief system had made a real dent
on the Hindu society; this bears out in his comments. “Not only did the Hindu
religion, Hindu art, Hindu literature, Hindu science absorb Muslim elements, but the
very spirit of Hindu culture and the very spirit of the Hindu mind were also altered,
and Muslims reciprocated by responding to the change in every department of
life.”167
This, in fact, led to various reform movements in Hinduism. Many Saints and
Bhakts discarded idol worship, the caste system, and metempsychosis. Reform move-
ments of Kabir, Namdev, and Nanak were almost similar to the ideas of the Muslim
Sufis. And most interestingly many Hindu Bhakts had Muslim followers and Muslim
Sufis had Hindus disciples; a phenomenon that still exists is evidence of a great syn-
thesis. As a matter of fact the evolving language got the most help from these seers.
This grand synthetic evolution of “Hindustaniat” or Indianness and its hybrid
language has been characterized by the linguist Prof. Chatterji168 as follows:
“The local language triumphed, making Indians of the conquerors and their
descendants and welding them into one people with the upper ranks of the Indians
who were converted to Islam. The Indian Muslim came into being.”
In this new dispensation, however, the Persian language had slowly assumed
the status of an administrative language. Viewed from an ancient historical per-
spective, history was being repeated. The ancient Dravidian turf of the Indus Valley
167. Tarachand (1963), pp. 130-142.

168. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 186-187.
154
Chapter VII. Language of Saints and Sultans
period became reconnected with West Asia; the linguistic medium now was not
Elamite-Dravidian of Iran, but a hybrid Persian from the same land of Iran.
7.1 EVOLVING HINDIWI-HINDI AND DISPERSAL
The Sauerseni Upbramsha, as noted in the previous chapter, generated the ear-
liest nuclei169 of a new hybrid. It covers a large territory from Bihar to Punjab and
U.P. central provinces and interfaces with Sindhi, Gujrati, and Marathi without much
problem, except for accent and minor differences in pronouns and adjectives. A bulk
of the vocabulary, about 90%, is the same. In its heartland, Sauerseni later came to be
identified with 3-4 accents with such names as Brijbhasa, Khari boli, Oudhi, or
Eastern Hindi. Brij is another name of the territory around MathuraAgra, while Khari
boli, meaning pungent or standing upright speech, centers around Delhi, Punjab,
Haryana, and the western districts of U.P. Oudhi or Eastern Boli or Pūrbi is the prev-
alent accent in eastern U.P. and Bihar. The main difference between Khari and Brij is
vowel ending (a, ā) in Khari and (e, o) in Brij, in their nouns and verbs, e.g., <khāta>
eats and Rama of Khari will sound as khato and Ramo.
Then, one finds a mixture of these styles as well. In the eastern variety the
khata becomes khat or even khāb. The Khari-boli variety, however, dominates all
others and is accepted as standard Urdu/Hindi by the show business and print media.
The flow of the new hybridization was from the northwest to southeast, and
south. Thus, in some 400-500 years, Arabic-Persian influenced the languages of
Sindh, Punjab, Harryana, Gujrat, Meerut, etc., territories under Ghaznavids. So the
language, so-called “Hindiwi or Hindi” or Western Hindi by Chatterji, did have a
documented beginning in the latter areas according to Prof. Sheerani.170 The lan-
guage was in use for cultural and business exchanges between Ghaznavids and Rajas
of Delhi, Kannauj, and Gujrat, etc., during the peaceful coexistence for about two
hundred years, until both were overthrown by Ghori. Punjabi, Pathan Sindhi soldiers,
bureaucrats, merchants of both religions, then swarmed Delhi and U.P. following the
establishment of Delhi Sultanat. It was again through this same western army from
Delhi and Punjab that the western variety of Hindi spread out to the south and east,
covering all of India.
In this crowd of merchants, soldiers and elites, there also came some men of
religion, the Sufis. Very prominent among them were Syed Ali Hajveri of Lahore
during the Ghaznavids time (AD 1030), Sheikh Nizamuddin of Delhi, and Moinuddin
Chisti of Ajmer. Their ideology based on “peace with all,” with a message of
friendship, human rights and social justice gave tremendous momentum to the propa-
gation of the Islamic faith. Millions of Hindus, without even changing their faith,
became their devotees, a phenomenon that is still widespread.
Similar to Buddha, the Sufis preached in the common man’s language and so
were able to reach people everywhere, including the deep South. A Sufi type of
169. M. H. Khan (1999), pp. 45-58.

170. H. M. Sheerani (1993), pp. 10–11.
155
movement among Hindus, “Bhakti,” had also been popular since Harshas’ time;
Suddha Buddhists in the East and Nath panthes in Punjab had also used the same lan-
guage; the evolving language had thus no particular religion, except the “Indianness”
it was propagating.
Political instability in Delhi due to Tamerlane’s invasion (around 1400) led to
the formation of autonomous states in the East and the South, including Gujrat. In
Bengal, Muslim rulers developed the Bengali language.171 They had Hindu religious
books, Ramayana and Mahabharata, translated from SKT to Bengali and later into
Persian; this too happened in Marathi, with the development of “Deccani Urdu,”
which became the administrative language in early 14th –15th century under the Qutb
Shahi Kingdom. Gujrat became an independent center of Urdu, leading to Gujri-Urdu
or Modern Gujrati. Linguistic samples from these areas will be reviewed later.
7.2 VARIETY IN PHONETICS AND VOCABULARY
Urdu/Hindi, rich in phonemes including retro flexes cerebral, [t], [th], [d], [dh],
etc., consonant cluster and Arabic phonemes (Chapter II) has variable expression in
speech form. In the western areas p, b, and v are differentiated as in the central
country, but v dominates, and in the East v disappears, i.e., vein, vitamin of Lahore
become bain, and bitamin in Patna and Calcutta. [b] is more ancient and well
entrenched; Sumerian, Elamite had no v either; b is also preferred in Persian as part of
the Elamite legacy.
The expression <bah bah> good good, of Persian becomes <vāh vāh> in north
and central India and reverts to bah bah in the East dominated by Austric-Munda
which also lacks [v]. r and l have the same problem; in the east l predominates and
<Ram-Rahim> may sound as <lam-lahim>. The problem between dentals l/n is also
noted in the East. For example, Lucknow may be pronounced as nucklow or Lucklow;
this is noted in New York as well, “Tylenol” becomes “Tynenol.” Sibilants [s] and
[sh] do have variability. In Eastern Bihar and Bengal [sh] replaces [s], i.e., shop is
shop, but sun becomes shun, and <sota> sleeping becomes <shota>. [sh] is replaced
by [s] in Gujrati, Urdu, and in many non-urban areas in U.P., e.g., shoe> soe, shame >
same. The problem between Arabic phonemes guttural q (Table VI . 1) and k exists
everywhere. In Punjab <Quran> is Koran, and <qalam> pen is <kalam> in general
speech, even among those conversant in Arabic. In U.P, Central India, and elsewhere
q and k are much better differentiated in urban areas. In Decanni Urdu [q] is substi-
tuted by kh or Greek x sounds, i.e., <Qoran>; <Qalam> are <khoran> and <khalam>.
This phonetic diversity does exist even in contemporary Hindiwi literature, as
we will see, but disappears after 16–17th century. Urdu/Hindi speakers of the central
country, Delhi, and U.P. seem to manage, p/b/v, r/l, s/sh and Arabic sounds k/kh, k/q,
ghein, z/j, f/ph much better. In East Bihar-Bengal, Gujrat, and non urban U.P., the
Arabic phonemes are non-existent in common speech, i.e., <khuda> god becomes
<khuda>, changing the meaning to digging instead. <khāli> empty is <khali>, qalam
171. Tarachand (1963), pp. 213–278.
156
is kalam, ghalti (mistake) is galti, zālim is jālim (tyrant), zor is jor (power or
strength), father is phader, film is philam and faqir becomes phakir. Finally, in Urdu’s
phonetics, nasalization remains a feature in variable degrees, but more so in Punjab.
A vocabulary of about 500,000 words from diverse sounds and a multiplicity of
words for a given item drives the language; this provides a variety in phonetic
endings, the main secret of richness of its poetry. Examples are plentiful and a few are
as follows:
Water has four words: pāni, jal, nir, āb; Arabic mā is rarely used; and water
itself has joined the list. For house we have makcān, khāna, ghar, kotha, kothi, mazil,
kutia, kada, rehāesh gāh. The equivalent of time or moment Urdu has ghari, waqt,
samaey, sāt, lamha, mohlat, mee-ād and for bread the words are roti, chapati, phulka,
and nān.
Urdu’s vocabulary, just to repeat, consists of about 30% Dravidian, 30%
Munda, 10–20% Persian, 10–20% Arabic, 5–10% SKT-Tat-Sam, and about 5% other.
7.3 EARLIEST NAGARI-HINDI-URDU
Hindi-Urdu picked the current trends in the cultural centers of Multan and
Lahore and Meerut area, under Mehmud Ghaznavi and his clan. According to Prof.
Thaper,172 Mehmud, after settling down, invested in academics by opening libraries,
besides enlarging his empire in the West and the North. Through his trusted adviser,
Alberuni, he perhaps became well acquainted with the Hindu religion and adopted the
local language and Nagari script, behaving as the Kings did everywhere. His title as
Nrpati (King in SKT), Mehmuda reveals his pragmatism towards Indian culture and
language. Although SKT had become a little inactive, his coins were struck in pure
Nagari-SKT with the following inscription on a silver dirham2:
“avyaktam çkum,
Muhammada avtāra
Nrpati Mahamuda; ayam
tankô:Mahamuda purç gattç
hatō: jiniyama samvat . . .”
[Translation: Indestructable is one, Muhammad is the

incarnation (Prophet), Mahmud the ruler of men: this
coin struck in the mint of Mohammad pur . . . in year, etc.,]
Hato (passing) and Jiniyama means Islamic Hegira (migration) calendar.

“Mohammad pur” was the new name of the city of Lahore which became the
Ghaznavid capital. The pragmatic Mehmood even had the Hindu god symbol, Nandi
(bull), on the coins. Two language streams, Persian and the more popular people lan-
guage, Hindi, in Upbhransh stage, maintained steady progress through bilingual poets
172. R. Thaper (1990), pp. 229–240.
157
and writers, both Hindus and Muslims from thousands of mixed families of new con-
verts.
Mehmud’s successors, the Sultans of Delhi, maintained a similar language
policy; the synthetic Indian culture remained in high gear with Nagari and Persian
script together in use. Mohammad Ghori, even surpassed Nrpati Mehmuda, revealing
the extent to which integration had taken place. Ghori maintained animal figures like
the bull and horsemen on his coins, anathema to orthodox Islam. He also inscribed the
local language on the coins written in Nagari: “Sri Mahamada Sāma, Sri hamira-amir.”
Interestingly, he even used pictures of the Hindu goddess of Wealth,
“Lakshmi,” on the coin, continuing with the tradition of his predecessor, Prithviraj,
the defeated King of Delhi. The language of this period reveals some usage of
Persian-Arabic words in both Persian and Nagari script.
It is also known that Mahmud of Ghazna knew Hindiwi of that time. According
to Prof. Sheerani,173 a local Hindu King under Mahmud Rana of Kalanjhar, wrote a
poem in Mehmud’s praise; Mehmud had liked it. Among bilinguals, two Kashmiri
soldiers Tilak and Behram are on the records. Tilak had in fact become Mahmud’s
commander-in-chief and led an army successfully against a rebellious Turkish chief
Nyaltegin, who was later killed by Tilak.
Alberuni, though, knew the local language, beside SKT, and perhaps wrote in it
as well. He left enormous records, but none in Hindi. Alberuni, however, is perhaps
the first to identify various regional languages, along with their alphabets/scripts, by
name; script Siddha-Matrka, originating from Kashmir, dominated the northwest up
to Varanasi and Kannauj; Nagara in central India, Malwa and Ardhanagari, a mixture
of the two was used in Sindhi. He also had mentioned Andhri of Andhradesa, Dirwari
(Dravidi) of Dravid desa, Kannara, Gauri (Gaudi) of East meaning Bengal174, etc.
All historians presume though correctly that the foci of the new hybrid must
have started in Sindh and Punjab, but there is a lack of any specimen. The name of
Khwaja Masud Salman (1046–1121 A.D), a Ghanznavid Governor of Jullunder is
cited by all. His Persian work, revealing an intense love of India, and use of Hindi
words in Persian poetry such as <varsha kal> rainy season <mara-mar> fist fight, etc.,
are cited by Sheerani. His Hindi poetry work is extinct but had a reliable witness,
Amir Khusru. In the same Ghaznavid period Gujrat, which fell to Mehmud in 1027,
also reveals the earliest specimen of Hindi, but in Gujrati script. As a matter of fact
the assimilation of Arabic-Persian words had started even much earlier; and had
impacted even the remote East-Central Bengal. Prof. Chatterji had discovered the
usage of several Arabic-Persian words such as <sikka>175 coin, <sekka ara> die-
maker, engraver, <mochi>shoemaker, <paika or paik> foot soldier, <dām> price and
<sui> needle, plural <suiyān or sewaiyan> long thin noodles, vermicelli etc. in a 7th
century inscription in Bengal. It is hard to discover the sources of these, but the
history of this period is really not well known. It is, however, documented that
Mohammed Qasim had come down to Kannauj in Central India before finally settling
173. H. M. Sheerani (1993), pp. 47–61.

174. Edward Sachau (1971), p. 171.
175. S. K. Chatterji (1972), pp. 181–184.
158
down in Sindh-Multan, which, under Abbasi Caliph Al Mansur, was a bridge for
trade, commerce, and academic exchange between West Asia and India (vocabularies
travel fast with commerce). Not surprisingly, the word <sikka> was absorbed, as
there is no SKT or PKT equivalent.
Three main centers of Hindi can be seen emerging from the early stage after the
8th century:
North inclusive of Punjab, Delhi, U.P, Bihar
Gujrat/Rajasthan/Central India
South-Deccan, Hyderabad
Gujrat really provides some of the earliest specimen of Hindi used by Muslim
Sufis. Translated in APS from Gujrati is the work of a Sufi, Sat Guru (1094),
according to Prof. Jalibi.176
Mohammad Aouf, famous as Sat Guru (true teacher) of Ghaznavid’s time,
wrote in Gujrati script in the style of Hindu devotional Bhajans (songs) to reach out to
all. His work, considered pious and respectable by Khojās (a Muslim sect) of Gujrat,
reveals a language which is nothing but Hindi or Urdu. Two examples are:
“Sat Guru kahey rey piyu piyu karey
bin piyu piyu karey na pawey ko-ey
[The true teacher says that without uttering god’s name no one gets anything.]
“Sat Guru kahey rey, jotha marta to sab jag marey

aney sāchey na marey koi”.
[The true teacher said that if a liar dies the whole world dies
but when a truthful person dies no one dies.]
Gujrat was an area of Sauerseni PKT linked to the whole big area of the north
and central. Both dialects, Brij and Khari boli, are visible in the above couplets, but
the most voluminous work from the 12th century onward actually belongs to Delhi
and U.P tract of the North
7.4 EARLY POETS – WRITERS OF THE NORTH
7.4.1 Hem Chandra

Hem Chandra (12th century AD) was a Gujrati grammarian whose famous
work is cited as an early specimen of Hindi. The following reveals the sentiments of a
wife of a soldier gone in a battle:
“Bhala huwa go mariya
behni mahara kintu
Lajja jeenj tu vassiahu
Jai bhagga ghar vantu.”
176. J. Jalibi (1995), pp. 87–144.
159
[Translation: It’s good, sister, that my husband was killed;

it would be embarrassing if he was back home, defeated.]
This particular stanza is a combination of Khariboli and Brij bhasa style of

Hindiwi. It is also noteworthy that there is only one word of SKT, <lajja> shame,
while the rest are Munda words, <bhala> good, <huwa> happened, <bhaga> run
away, etc., and Dravidian <mariya> death, <kintu> husbands, reveal the usual mix of
SKT (7%).
7.4.2 Chand-Bardoi
Chand-Bardoi (~AD 1193) is considered a poet born in Lahore during the

Ghaznavid period and left a long epic poem known as “Prithivi-raj – Rasu.” <Rasu>,
a word from Dravidian Telugo (DED # 5263), means “compose or write.” It consists
of about 20% Arabic-Persian and shows significant integration. Azad,177 an Urdu
critic of Delhi in the 19 th century, had identified words such as Mahal (palace),
parwar-di gar (god- sustainer), paigham (message), kareem (kind), mulk (country),
sultan (King), etc., and also expressed surprise at such an early synthesis; but it is
quite understandable in view of some 400 years of Persian traditions in Punjab.
The epic itself, based on romance and the heroism of Prithivi–Raj against
Sultan Ghori, narrates stories, not verifiable by history and is regarded as non-
authentic. Most authors, including Prof. Hasan,178 a historian of Hindi literature, con-
siders it a 17th century forgery. Rasu, however, has played an important role in
arousing national fervor for Prithvi-Raj, depicted as the bravest of Hindu kings who
apparently defended a Hindu-India against a foreign Muslim invader, Ghori, and
whose unfortunate defeat had enslaved India.
The epic also includes a romance of the hero, who elopes with Sanjukta, a
daughter of the hero’s adversary, King Jaya Chand of Kannauj, an ally of the Muslim
enemy. The heroine and her father are well known in literature, but are fictitious
figures. Rasu, however, is full of literary merit and a significant part of Indian culture
and folklore.
It is clear that Brij bhasha and Khari boli were the contemporary dialects in the
North; they are most visible in the work of Amir Khusro and a few others.
7.4.3 Khusro–The Pioneer of the Term Hindi
Khusro (1253–1335) is the most eminent personality of his time, a typical rep-
resentative of an evolving secular Indian culture, and a linguist well conversant with
SKT, Persian, and Arabic; Khusro prided his Hindi composition. He was also a top
grade musician, inventor of musical instruments, and numerous ragas (tunes), a
soldier, a politician, and a diplomat, all rolled into one.
177. Mohammed Hasan Azad (1993), p. 15.

178. Mohammed Hasan (1998), pp. 29–43.
160
According to his biographer, Prof. Samnai179 of Delhi University, Abul Hasan

Yameenuddin Khusro was born in a Turkish family in U.P. Khusro had served ten to
eleven kings, including the famous Alauddin Khalji and completed about 99 manu-
scripts, including Hindi, Persian, Arabic, Diwans, Epics, and Ghazals. He was a close
Murid (disciple or devotee) of the famous Sufi of Delhi, Nizamuddin, and is buried
next to him.
Khusro is perhaps the first to identify twelve languages, including Sindhi,
Lahori, Kashmiri, Dehlavi, Telugo, Kannadi, Gujrati, Tamil, etc., and characterized
his mother tongue as Hindi, or Hindiwi.
Khusro’s style of poetry is a mixture of Brij and Khari, and in some poems he
has alternating stanzas of Persian and Hindi. His Hindi work consists of riddles, rag-
ragni (tunes), and duheys (2 stanzas or single couplets).
“Aek thal moti bhara-sab ke sarpar aundha dhara,
charon aur voh thal phirey–moti es se ek na girey.”
[A tray full of pearls is placed upside down above us all

It moves in all four directions without dropping a single pearl]
The poet refers to the sky here.

The above verse includes only one Persian word. Another type of poetic riddle
involves using a word with two different meanings; one example is as follows:
“Anār kyon na chakha? }
vazir kyon na rakha? }dāna na tha
[Translation: Why did he not eat pomegranate?

Why did he not appoint a minister?]
Answer: dāna was absent; the word dāna means grain/seed/bead and also wise.
One word “dāna” answers both.
In Khusro, one finds clear evidence of a developing Urdu. His famous couplet,
which he apparently composed at the death of Sufi master, Nizamuddin, is engraved
on the latter’s tomb and reads:
“Gouri so-wey seej par mukh par darey kesh
chal Khusro ghar apne raen bhaie cho desh.”
[Translation: Dame (beloved) now sleeps with hair covering her face
Khusro, let us go night (darkness) has dawned]
The poet expresses his grief at the death of his master and characterizes it as the
advent of darkness or night (metaphorically).
Khusro was a humanist par excellence and had great respect for Vedas. He con-
sidered Hindus to be believers of one mighty god and identified many similarities
between the Muslim and Hindu laws.
179. Syed Ghulam Samnai (1995), p. 10.
161
7.4.4 Some Religious-Liberals of Urdu/Hindi
Hindi-Urdu languages made rapid progress in several centers through Sufi

preachers all over India. Baba Farid of Shakkar Gunj in Multan, Bu Ali Qalander in
Punjab, Sheikh Sher Uddin Muneri in Bihar and Bengal, Hameed Uddin Nagori in
Central India, Sheikh Abdul Quddus Gangohi in Oudh (Lucknow area), and Sheikh
Bajan in Gujrat. Prof. Jalibi180 provides some glimpses of the language of the Sufis.
Here are a few examples:
Sheikh Qalander (~AD 1323) addressed Amir Khusro saying: “Turka khuch
samajhda hai?” (Turk-man, do you understand a little?). Others from various sources
are as follows:
- “ābhi nahein howey ga.”
[It will not happen now.]
- “ab lak din burey ga-ey ab sukh ho-aey.”
[Bad days are gone, good times have come.]
- “nahein abhi na-hein.”
[No! Not now.]
Although these comments are about six centuries old, they do not sound too
different from present-day speech.
As the Muslim Sufis and the political establishment helped the evolving lan-
guage, many Hindus, Bhakts and Sants, such as Namdev, Kabir das, and Guru Nanak,
had also utilized the same idioms. Various movements of this era preached mono-
theism and condemned the caste system and idol worship etc. Like many Sufis, they
also focused on peace with all, social justice, and equality. Prof. Tarachand connects
these movements to the earliest contact of Islam in South India.181 Many leading
Bhakti poets were not even Brahmins. For example, Namdev was a washer-man,
Ravi was a cobbler, and Kabir a textile weaver.
Namdev (AD 1270–1350) belonged to the Dhobi (washer-men) caste and
opposed idol or icon worship. The language he used is Khariboli in the following:
“mai na hoti, bāp na hota, karam na hoti kai-ya
ham nahein hotey, tum nahein hotey kaun kahān se āi-ya
chānd na hota, sūr na hota, pāani paun milāyā
shāstr na hota, ved na hota, karam kahān tey āyā”
180. J. Jalibi (1995), pp. 21–50.

181. Tarachand pp. 107–108.
162
In these two simple couplets Namdev glorifies god, the creator, stating that if
there was no god there would be no man, no environment, and no holy book.182
The next one is also from Garanth Sahib Sikh’s religious book and sounds
similar to some Muslim prayer book, loaded with Arabic-Persian:
“kareema, raheema Allah tū ghani
hazra, huzūr, darpesh tū muni”
[kind, merciful Allah (god) you are generous

omnipotent, omnipresent, you are knowledgeable]
Kabirdas or Shah Kabir (1398–1492) was known as Kabirdas to Hindus and

Shah Kabir to the Muslims. Kabir was perhaps the most important of the Bhakti poets
and stands out as the most radical liberal and celebrated satirist. He presented a
message of social justice and equality among all men, and mocked the conservative
Mullahs and Pundits, whom he considered exploitative at best. He did not believe in
reincarnation or metempsychosis.
Kabir was born of a Brahmin widow in Banaras (Varanasi) in U.P. and aban-
doned (Hindu widows do not remarry). He was raised by a Muslim weavers’ family.
Kabir created a new synthetic religion, “Kabir Panthies,” and paraphrased the
people’s language, Hindi, like a running stream, and SKT like a well. About 10% of
the words he used were Arabic-Persian, and his ideas resemble those of the Persian
poets Rumi, Saadi etc. according to Sheerani.183 Three stanzas below exemplify his
style and language:
“sahib mera aiek hai dūja kaha na jai
dūja sahib jo kahon sahib khara rasa-ai”
[My god is one, I cannot say there are two

If I mention a second one, He will be angry]
Talking about Hindus and Muslims and their gods and prophets, Kabir said:
“wohi Mahādev, wohi Mohammed, Brahmma Adam kahi-ey
koi Hindu, koi Turk kahawey, aek jamein par rahi-ey”
[Mahadev (great Lord), Mohammed (the Prophet), Brahmma (Hindus’ Adam)

are all the same; whether they are Hindu or Turk, all live on the same earth]
Omnipresence of god is expressed as follows:

“Jiyon tillmein tail hai, jiyon chakmak mein ag
tera sā-ien tujh mein basay jāg sakey to jāg.”
[As the sesame seed has oil in it and firefly has fire
So lives god within you, wake up and understand.]
182. Tarachand pp. 143–177.

183. M. H. Sheerani (1993), pp. 155-158.
163
Kabir’s work is the reflection of “Monism” or Vedanta and reveals a language

of Eastern U.P., with the substitution of Arabic phonemes in the following examples:
<andaza> andaja (estimate), <qazi> kaji (judge), <nishan> nisan (mark), <firman>
pherman (edict), <Quran> karam (Quran).
Guru Nanak (AD 1469–1538) started a movement in the Punjab, with an ide-
ology uniting Hinduism and Islam. He regarded himself as the prophet of god, who
had received a sign (āitān) from the god, chapters (sūrahs) and tradition (Hadith) of
the Prophet. He preached that there was only one god in the world and proclaimed
that Nanak, the Caliph of god, speaks the truth. His religion was monotheistic and
similar to Islam.
From the linguistic perspective, Nanak’s movement covers an extensive tract.
The religious book, Garanth Sahab, includes the work of Nandev of the Southern
tract, Kabir of the East, and Baba Farid of the West (Multan). The language reveals, a
significant mixture of Khari boli, Punjabi, Multani (Saraiki), Eastern Hindi, and Brij,
and an increased usage of Arabic-Persian words, as in the following examples from
the holy book, Garanth Sahab:
“Pîr paigambar (paighambar) aur saheed (shaheed)
Sekh (sheikh) masa-ik (mashaikh), kāji (Qazi), mullah
dar durwes raseed (darwesh rasheed) barakat tan ko agli parhdey rahen darood.”
[Prophet, saints, Sufis, and witnesses,

and rightly guided darwesh and fakirs get the blessings
by reading the blessed song, or darood.]
“Es dam da mein moneu key bharosa,

āya āya na āya na āya.”
“Yeh sansār rai-yn da sapna,
kahein dekha kahein nahein dekhāya.”
[This breath is not dependable; it may or may not come.

This world (life) is one night’s dream, sometimes seen and sometimes not]
In the work of Kabir and Nanak, one finds a well-established language, fully
comprehensible in the whole Urdu/Hindi belt, from Bihar to Punjab to South-Central
India. Garanth Sahab had used Arabic-Persian words extensively, some several thou-
sands, according to Jalibi.
7.4.5 Some Secular Poets
Although Urdu, or Hindiwi, of this phase was in daily use, it was Persian that
was used in administration. Autonomous rulers, however, patronized local poets and
dialects, and the growth of Hindi continued unhindered until the Moghul period.
But a stage arrived (even earlier in the South) when Urdu/Hindi was a con-
sidered as potent language, ready for administrative responsibility. We find some
secular material, stories and epics for teaching students. These works also reveal cul-
tural syncretion, adoption of local ideas, fiction, and romance. Persian script by this
164
time (15th century) had come into widespread use. Two important poets, Qutban in
Eastern India, and Jaisi in Oudh in U.P., can be called “pioneers” in epic writing in
Urdu/Hindi, a tradition picked up later by Tulsi das and others.
Qutban (~AD 1500), who belonged to the Eastern tract, is famous for his
fiction, Margawati. Qutban, a Sufi, according to Prof. Sheerani,184 was patronized by
the Governor of Bengal, Allauddin Husain Shah (1493 to 1518), a patron of Hindi
and Bengali.
Marghawati is about a beautiful princess who knows how to fly. A prince,
Ganpati Dev, falls in love with her and marries her, but then she disappears. The Raja
sets out to find her and ends up marrying another girl, Rukimi, whom he rescues from
the demons. Margawati is finally discovered, and the three live happily for a short
while. The prince then dies and the two queens commit “Sati,” an old Hindu ritual in
which a wife dies by joining her husband in his cremational pyre. Qutban’s language
is simple and reflects an Eastern touch as well:185
“Rukmani pani vai-sehi mar ga-ei,
Kulwanti sat on sati bh-aei.”
[Rukmani died by committing Sati.]
Qutban praised his patron, King Shah Husain, in a poem quoted by Prof.
Sheerani:
“Shah Husain āhai bara rāja
Chatar singhāsun un ko chāja.”
“Pandit au budh want siyāna
parhey purān arth sab jāna”
[Shah Husain is a great king;

the canopy and throne look good on him,
and Pandit, Buddhist, wise men surround
as he reads and absorbs purān (holy book).]
These two clearly reflect the depth and cultural synthesis, a Muslim king
patronizing learned Brahmins and Buddhists and reading Hindu’s holy book, purān.
Malik Mohammed Jaisi (1500–1550) is regarded as one of the greatest poets of
Urdu/Hindi literature. He was the son of a farmer and kept his profession of hard
work. He was born in Jais, in the Rai Bareli district of U.P., a part of Oudh. Jaisi is
credited with three famous works: 1) Padmavat, 2) Akhravat, and 3) Ākhri Kalām, all
written in Persian script and Oudhi. Padmavat is the secular epic – the longest epic
after Ramayana; it features Allaudin Khalji, a Muslim king in love with a Hindu
princess who never surrenders even after her husband, the Hindu king is killed; she
commits suicide.
184. H. M. Sheerani (1993), pp. 165–170.

165
7.5 GUJRAT AND URDU/HINDI
As noted, Gujrat had also become an early melting pot after the Ghaznavid era
(AD 1027). Prior to its final annexation by the Moghul in the 16th century, Gujrat had
become part of the large Southern independent empire under Ahmad Shah Bahmani
after Taimurlane’s invasion of Delhi (1338). Breaking off from Bahmani kingdom,
Gujrat remained mostly independent and a refuge for immigrants from the North;
Gujrat, in fact, had pre-historic ancient links with Sumerians, through its naval port,
Lothal, a Harappan city, exposed to foreign cultural/linguistic influence. In the recent
past, pre-Islamic or Islamic Arab colonies had existed along the western coastline,
including Gujrat and Sindh. And most recently, some Gujratis had descended from
(5th century AD) the Gurjara clan, a Turkish Central Asian tribe, perhaps Persian-
speaking, which had founded the cities of Gujranwala, Gujrat, etc., in the Punjab and
dominated North India based at Kannauj through Pala (Gujrar-Pratihara) dynasty,
which had ceded to the Ghaznavids.
Gujrat, also located on the North–South Highway linked through Multan, thus
seems to be the natural site for hybrid culture and language. Gujratis (Hindu and
Muslim) commonly share Arabic-Persian surnames, e.g., Amin (trustworthy), Vakeel
(lawyer), Munshi (clerk), Shah (king), and Parikh or Fariq/Faruq (Arabic) meaning
inspector or discriminator is from the Arabic root Frq. Gujratis substitute [F] with [P]
and [Q] with [K].
The Gujrati language follows the same Urdu/Hindi grammar, shares about 90%
vocabulary, mainly from Dravidian and Munda, Arabic, Persian with some SKT
tatsam; and it uses Gujrati and Persian scripts. As a matter of fact, Gujrat has pro-
duced one of Urdu’s oldest poets, Wali Ahmedabadi, to be discussed in a later
chapter. Jalibi has provided the evidence for the local basic substrate in Gujrat which
made a poet like Wali possible. Linguistic material, some poetry, and pieces of con-
versation all constitute this evidence. Sufis certainly played a central role. Prof. Jalibi,
in his discussion with examples, clearly documents that Gujrati, Hindi, and Urdu are
essentially the same languages.
7.5.1 Sufis’ Gujri — Talks and Poetry
In 1400–1500, we find a much clearer discrimination in the speech of the Sufis
when compared to that of the Delhi area. Some quotations are as follows:
“kya hai, loh hai, lakkar hai ke patthar hai.”
[What is it? Iron, wood or stone?”]
“Tusan rajey asan khojey.”
[You are King and I am a minister.]
The words tusan (you) and asan (I) are still current in Punjab but extinct in
Gujrat and Modern Urdu. Another one resembling Punjabi reads:
“Kaka firuz changa hai.”
166
[Kaka (boy) is changa (good) are Punjabi words.
“Âpnon ko kya fāida.”
[What is to our benefit?]
“Âpha-ien jhak mar kar qubul karey gā.”
[He himself will accept with reluctance.]
“Tum hi yahan rahtey ho.”
[Is it you who lives here?]
The last three are hardly different from today’s Urdu/Hindi. A Gujri-Urdu Dic-
tionary was compiled (1433) by Fazal Uddin Balkhi of Ahmedabad and contained
over two hundred Arabic-Persian words. There were numerous Sufis in Gujrat,
including Sheikh Bajan, Mian, Khoob Mohammad, etc., whose poetic works have
been reviewed by Dr. Jalibi.
Sheikh Bajan (1388–1506) had lived in Burhanpur, Gujrat. He called his lan-
guage “Zaban Dehelvi,” (Delhi’s language) and wrote in a style called “Jikri” (zikri)
in Gujrati. An example follows:
“Bājan jo kisi ke aieb dhākey
ūs they varjan thir thir kan-pey.”
[One who covers others’ faults lives in fear of Him]
Sheikh Mehmood Durya-ei was another Sufi who set the trend of adding “Das”
(servant) to his name, similar to Kabir Das. Two verses of devotional poetry are as
follows:
“Mehmood Saien sevak tera
tun to simrat saien mera
Karen hamāri sār.”
[Mehmood is your servant; you are my great Lord.]
“Ummat nabi Mohammad ki yeh Mehmood tera dās.”
[They are devoted followers of Muhammad; Mehmood is your servant.]
7.6 LANGUAGE OF THE SOUTH (DECCAN)
The history of Urdu/Hindi in the South is tied up with the history of

Gujrat, part of the Bahmani kingdom. The latter, under Ahmed Shah Bahmani,
167
took control of the South, which disintegrated into four states; (1) Ahmad Nagar
under Nizam Sahi, (2) Golconda, Qutub Shah family (3) Badur, under Bareed
Shahi and (4) Bijapur, under Ādil Shahi.
All of the four states patronized the Urdu language under various terms, Hindi,
Hindiwi, Zabān-Delhi, or Deccani, etc. Urdu/Hindi had become an administrative
language. Persian, however, did exist, but not with a prime status, unlike the North. In
addition to Urdu, Tamil and other languages generated high-quality literature by
Hindu and Muslim poets. The populace was thus bilingual, especially the educated
elite, by the 17th century, after the re-integration of the South. In fact, Urdu of the
South gave a boost to the stagnating Urdu of the North.
7.6.1 Deccani Sufi Poets
Sufis in the South preached in Urdu as well as the local Dravidian languages.
Persian script served as the link among six different scripts. Dozens of kings and
commoners generated massive amounts of literature in Urdu. In fact, the earliest com-
pilation of poetry “Diwan” is from the south. Mulla Wajhee, a poet, speaks of
Southern patriotism:
“Deccan sa nahein thār sansār mein,
ganj fazillan ka hai es thār mein.”
[No place in the world is better than the South,

Assemblage of scholars is in this country.]
Even prior to the arrival of Khalji’s army, many Sufis had settled in the south.
Among them were Haji Romi (d. 1160), Syed Shah Momin (d. 1200); Yusuf Shah
Raju Qatal (d. 1335), and his son, Hazrat Gaisu Daraz, who was a leading poet. One
Sufi, Burhan Uddin (d. 1337), visiting a family friend, smiled at their daughter. The
lady of the house, Bibi Aisha, made a comment which had gone into record: “Burhan
Uddin Sādi dhiya kus kya hansta hai” which means “Burhan Uddin! You laugh at my
daughter.” Reproduced by Prof. Jalibi,186 this sentence is a typical Punjabi-Urdu
expression.
Gaisu Daraz (1320–1422), of Delhi, had migrated to Gulburga in the state of
Kannada. A scholar of Persian and Arabic, he wrote in Hindi. Here is a specimen:
“Eemān ka jievc Quran,
Eemāan ki jar toba
Eemān ki daliyān san bandigi.”
[Quran is the life of faith,

Confession and regret its root
A hundred prayers are its branches.]
186. J. Jalibi (I), pp. 152–158.
168
Urdu poets and writers flooded the Southern states. Shah Ashraf Bayani of
Ahmed Nagar (c. 1503) wrote a long epic, Nausar Har, describing the martyrdom of
Prophet Mohammad’s grandson. One of the most celebrated poets of the South was
the king of Golconda, famous as the first poet of modern Urdu.
7.6.2 Poet King, Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah (1565–1612)
The most celebrated and integrated of the Muslim kings of the South, Qutub
Shah, loved local Indian culture, dress, architecture, seasoned fruits, and the fauna
and landscape. His poetry thus reveals exclusively indigenous themes. His language
is simple, straightforward, and does not contain excessive Arabic-Persian words.
Qutub Shah wrote in three languages, Urdu/Hindi, Telugo, and Persian, and generated
about 50,000 couplets, consisting of gazal, epics, marsias, qaseeda. His work runs
into almost two thousand printed pages.
Qutub Shah founded a city after his beloved’s name, Bhāgmati, and named it
BhagNagar.187 When Bhagmati changed her name to Hyder Mahal, the city became
the famous Hyderabad. All the kings of Golconda were leading poets, but Qutub
Shah was the leader of all leaders. A few couplets from his work are as follows:
“Bagh dil mein tuj mohabbat ka achambha phal lag-gya,
bāas rang phoolāan araq ka mein howāa hon daqmag-ya.”
[The seed of your love has been sown in my heart’s garden

Its fragrance, color, and nectar now captivate me.]
And,
“Vasl kahey ya dūri dônon ka māni ek hai,
tus bin jana shama kya shama parvāney ka.”
[Closeness and separation are synonymous

A moth (lover) burns with the flame; as it does in separation too.]
7.7 PRE-MOGHUL HINDI AND URDU
A clear picture of Hindi or Urdu had emerged which linked India both by
spoken words as well as by Persian scripts. Script had really played a critical role.
One must not forget that it was the same evolving Mundravi-PKT with shared vocab-
ulary in every region. It was a part of the Indian cultural system, and not because of
the Hindu or Muslim religion. Writers and poets were certainly both Muslims and
Hindus, but their identity is clearly Indian and not based on Muslim or Hindu fervor.
The poetry of Muslims, Jaisi, Qutban, Sat Guru, and Qutub Shah show an evolving
Indianness. The language undergoes its final touches in the next phase, “the Moghul
Phase,” discussed in the next chapter.
187. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 140–142.
169
7.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY
By the early 16th century, prior to the advent of the Moghul Period, Hindiwi
was clearly visible in poetic and conversational format, the usage of Persian and
Arabic words having steadily increased to about 10-20%. Persian script had taken a
dominant role, but the acceptance of Arabic phonemes still had a difficult time. In the
south and Gujrat, Hindiwi made faster progress in poetry as well as prose, gaining
even administrative status. But as compared to dominant Persian, Hindiwi in the
north appeared unworthy of serious literature. It was mostly utilized by Sufis and
Seers, for preaching among common folks. The chapter reviewed the pragmatism of
rulers like Mehmud Ghaznavi and Ghori in adopting SKT and also of others pro-
moting regional languages and scripts, i.e., Gujrati, Bengali, Tamil, etc. Finally, the
chapter identified a certain “secular Indianness” of culture and language that was free
from religious baggage.
170
CHAPTER VIII. SECULAR MOGHULS AND SECULAR LAN-
GUAGE
8.0 INTRODUCTION
The next phase of Urdu’s evolution, which coincided with the rule of Central
Asian Moghuls (1500-1900 AD), was the most vigorous when Urdu finally displaced
Persian from the administrative position. The last hundred years of this phase
includes the transition from Moghul rule to British rule. In the first two centuries,
Urdu’s growth was slow, but steady, while it remained under the shadow of Persian
under its older name, Hindi. This was followed by a boom, initiated by a major
upheaval, a foreign invasion, the first in 200 years by the Persian king Nadir Shah
(1740s). This indeed served as a catalyst in Urdu’s growth. A major anti-Persian (lan-
guage) reaction turned into a pro-Hindi reactionary nationalist movement leading to
pro- and anti-Persian camps. Persian scholars in fact would mock and caricature
Hindi, calling it names. They called Hindi, “Reekhta,” which means “fallen, inferior,
or scattered” in Persian, since Persian words were scattered in Hindi’s verses and sen-
tences, just as English words are sprinkled in modern Urdu/Hindi. The “Reekhta”
phase generated a reorganized grammar and produced some master poets before this
term was replaced slowly by another parallel uncommon term, “Urdu,” by the 1800s,
when the British sponsored the famous divisive Aryan theory and put Urdu on the
track of power and politics.
A short review of the history of the Moghul era and the quality of its statecraft
and culture is essential to understanding the current status of Urdu and Hindi.
8.1 HISTORICAL MARCH – BABAR TO BRITISH (1500–1900)
The political fragmentation of India after Taimur’s invasion in the 15th century
created an opportunity for Babar Shah, a great-grandson of Taimur and a small
Turkish-speaking “princeling” of Ferghana in Central Asia who had ruled Kabul or
171
Afghanistan (1504), utilizing Persian rather than his native Turkish. Babar founded
the famous Moghul Empire (1530), which later ruled the “largest ever” India from the
Oxus River in the North to the Indian Ocean in the South and Kabul to the Indo-
Burmese border. The empire, perhaps the richest, produced some of the world’s most
famous kings, like Akbar, known for religious tolerance, Jahangir for justice, Shah-
jahan for the famous Taj Mahal, and Aurangzeb for stretching India’s borders,
making it the “largest ever.” In the next hundred years, after the death of Aurangzeb
(1706), the Moghul empire disintegrated gradually through civil wars and numerous
succession struggles between contending political and regional powers, including the
Marhatta of South-Central India, the Sikhs, a politicized religious sect of the Punjab,
the Nizams of the South, the Nawābs (Governors) of Oudh in Central and Eastern
U.P, and the Pathans of Western U.P. A series of Moghul kings, Shah Alam, Farrukh-
sayar, Mohammad Shah, and some others, continued to rule in this chaos and even
faced a major invasion by Nadir Shah in 1740, who devastated the Punjab, massacred
the inhabitants of Delhi, and took away cash worth 700 million rupees, the famous
peacock throne, and the large and famous diamond Koh-i-noor (mountain of light), in
addition to annexing a part of the North West and Kashmir as part of a treaty. This
was followed by several other invasions by Nadir Shah’s successor, Ahmed Shah
Abdali, further compounding the political and economic chaos.
Meanwhile the British, who were connected with the Moghuls since Jahangir’s
time as merchants and exporters, also got involved in politics by taking sides. They
had business centers and colonies in Surat (Gujrat), Madras, Bengal, and elsewhere as
part of their contract with the Moghuls. In Bengal, the British East India Company
headed by Lord Clive garnered some political mileage by supporting the opposing
faction (1757) and defeating the local Governor Nawab of Bengal. He later obtained
the status of Bengal’s “revenue collector” from Delhi’s weakened king. Bengal had
then included Bihar, Orissa, and Assam and was worth Rs. 25 million annually. With
a measure of autonomy, the British initiated a game of Hindu-Muslim divide, pro-
tecting Hindu officers from their Muslim superiors, including one Ram Narayan at
Patna and Diwan Rai Dulabh at Murshidabad, the capital.188
In the next 50 years or so, Europeans created the “glorious Aryan race and lan-
guage theory,” claiming and binding themselves with the upper-caste Hindus as
reunited “genetic cousins.” They posed as the liberators of Hindu brothers from
“alleged Muslim oppression” of 1000 years and turned Bengal into a Hindu-Aryan
country, relegating the local Muslim majority to a destitute, impoverished, and subor-
dinate status. But, in contrast, elsewhere the policy was different. In the North-
Central (Delhi and U.P.) area, EIC supported and defended with success Delhi’s king
against Sikhs and Muslim Pathans and their own Bengal against the powerful Mar-
hattas and Oudh governor, or Nawab.
By 1803, about a hundred years after Aurangzeb’s death, EIC had achieved an
indirect control of Delhi, Oudh, Sindh, and the South. Punjab, liberated from the
Sikhs (1840), also entitled them as the liberators of the Muslim majority there. EIC,
188. Percival Spear (1994), p. 469.
172
Chapter VIII. Secular Moghuls and Secular Language
based at Calcutta, had gained almost total control of India through treaties and alli-
ances with hundreds of autonomous states, including big ones such as the Nizam of
Hyderabad, Bengal, Gwalior, Patiala, Indore, Mysore, Kashmir etc. But much of the
territories in U.P., Bihar, Punjab, and elsewhere were directly under EIC adminis-
tration, although still on behalf of the Moghul king, whose power was practically
confined to the capital district or the Red Fort at Delhi.
After suppressing the mutiny (1857), a joint uprising of Hindus/Muslims of
Delhi/U.P./Central areas, the last king Bahadur Shah Zafar (d. 1862) was exiled to
Burma and India was annexed to the British Empire (1858). As noted, the British had
created another powerful loyalist camp, Punjabi/Pathan Muslim majority by
“alleged” liberation from alleged “Sikh tyranny.” The Mutineers (1857) apparently
were then not infected with Bengal’s communalism virus and even targeted and killed
Bengali Hindus as British collaborators. In the North and Punjab, the British policy,
unlike the pro-Hindu stance in Bengal, had to be mindful and pragmatic, despite a
transient severe anti-Muslim post-mutiny vengeance. This is reflected in maintaining
a sort of secular Urdu-based status quo as we will see in the next chapter.
8.2 THE MOGHULS’ “SECULAR CULTURAL STATE”
The Moghuls, who spoke Turkish as their mother tongue but used Persian, had
maintained the existing “secular inclusiveness” of some five centuries. Their success
in creating the largest and richest Indian Empire was rooted in the happiness and
cooperation of the Hindu majority, which was possible only through “the essence of
the Quranic injunction” of universal human rights, social justice, and protection and
support of all religions and all languages. The Moghul system was secular and based
on merit and politics, and it was impossible to practice pro-Muslim political bigotry,
since hundreds of Hindu scholars of Arabic could read and interpret the Quran and
would point out any violations. Indeed, very often the Hindus would outnumber
Muslims in Arabic/Persian-based education. The Moghuls’ secular system is well
documented by almost all historians, including Hindus, Muslims, and the British.
Except for the Muslim king, all other positions, including the governorship of prov-
inces, even prime ministerships, were based on merit and/or politics, and were tem-
porary or renewable (not hereditary). Hindu governors had often ruled Muslim
majority states like Kabul-Afghanistan; the Finance Ministry and banking was always
Hindu-dominated. Publicly and privately financed education was open to all. Hindus
had free entry into mosque-based schools, and the army had always been mixed.
Thus, even in local wars and/or uprisings, e.g., Marhatta vs. North, Sikh vs. non-Sikh,
South vs. North, etc., both camps had mixed armies.
The concept of a “united India” as a political entity, and cultural, secular
Indian-ness, or Hindustaniat, was finally polished by Moghul India. Besides the
strength of policies, a crucial factor was the successful defense of India jointly by the
Hindu/Muslim army in numerous wars imposed by Iran or Persia (though 100%
Muslim), and expansion of India’s frontiers to Central Asian Muslim states and the
Indo-Burmese border. This also meant enduring indiscriminate massacres, especially
173
in the Punjab, Delhi, and U.P. area by foreigners like Nadir Shah, Abdali, and the
British EIC (1857). Two other significant factors, often ignored or missed by tradi-
tional historians, is conversion, which was never supported by the state. In general,
conversion to Islam had no economic incentive. Thus, when illiterate lower-caste
Hindus embraced Islam, their economic status remained the same; illiterate weavers,
carpenters, and other artisans kept their professions. In effect the Hindu caste or class
system indirectly maintained its objective of social balance. The other factor is the
foreign policy of the “Moghul Muslim state,” which was secure, proud, and inde-
pendent of Arab, Turkish, and Persian nationalism. The Moghuls had never accepted
pan-Islamism as a creed and never recognized the Ottoman Islamic Leadership. Inci-
dentally, the same policy was adopted by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and later by ML as
we will see later (Chapters IX–X). It was indeed a tradition followed since
Ghaznavi’s Empire (Chapter VII), a rebellious unit from the “Pan Islamic” Abbasids.
To understand how the British created Urdu vs. Hindi politics, the above profile
of Indianness is important to remember: Hindus and Muslims were, and still are,
socially, culturally, linguistically, and genetically, one people, with regional varia-
tions. To break and separate them on the basis of religion was a tremendous under-
taking by the British. They succeeded mainly because of Aryanism in Bengal, but
also due to the sectarian and regional cracks created by Nadir Shah’s invasion. The
divisive tactics, in fact, could only influence some educated urban elite. In the vil-
lages and countryside, the largely illiterate folks had a profoundly integrated culture,
even up to the time of partition. One unbelievable example, almost unthinkable now,
is cited by Bipan Chandra, and concerns a Muslim mosque in Punjab in the 1930s.189
An economic surveyor had noted a village mosque with rooms for travelers and
marriage parties of all faiths. He found a Hindu marriage party indulging in music
and songs that was interrupted only during prayer times. Chandra has cited many
other similar examples. Apparently, this high degree of integration was clearly
reflected in the peaceful coexistence and/or continuation of Muslim majority areas or
states ruled by Hindu king and vice versa, even up to the 1950s, for example,
Kashmir, a Muslim majority-state had a Hindu king, and Hyderabad, a Hindu-
majority state a Muslim king, or nizam.
8.3 URDU’S DOSE OF TURKISH
The Moghuls’ Turkish language could not impact an evolving Urdu too much,
since the Moghuls (Mongols) and Turks of the large Eurasian Central Asia had
already adopted Arabic and/or Persian script and/or languages before and/or after
Islam. Various pre-Islamic Turkish/Persian tribes into India, like Huns and Sakhas,
etc., were really Persian speakers (Chapters II–VI). Turkish, an agglutinative lan-
guage, similar to Celtic, Dravidian, Finnish, Ugaric, Armenian, etc., has its oldest lin-
guistic cousins in Sumerian, Hurrian-Mitanni, and Elamite (Chapter III), and is
rooted in greater Mesopotamian culture and its labile vocabulary. Moghuls, who
189. Chandra Bipan (1993), p. 197.
174
inherited the latter culture and language in the province of Kabul/Afghanistan, were
Persian-based as noted. But with time Urdu and other Indian languages as well as
Persian had acquired some 40–100 Turkish words, according to Dr. Chatterji.190
Some examples follow: qainchi (scissors), chāqu (knife), tōp (cannon), tōpi (cap or
hat), khātūn (lady), beg (chief), begum (lady chief), chiq (screen), dārogha (officer,
now used for a police officer), saughāt (present, or gift), surāgh (clue). In Urdu/Hindi
grammar, a common suffix, “chi,” is Turkish; its English equivalent is “er,” e.g.,
miller, killer, etc. and denotes a profession or a doer of something, e.g., a person in
charge of a treasure, or khazāna, is khazānchi, bāverchi (cook), tōpchi (gunner),
afeemchi (opium eater/addict), kitābchi (bookseller), etc.
8.4 URDU’S PLACE IN THE MOGHUL PHASE
Sufi style poetry, reviewed in the previous chapter, continued with its own
people-friendly growth; however some Moghul kings, like Akbar, did indulge in
secular poetry.
By Akbar’s time, Urdu had acquired a definitive respectability as “Zabān-e-
Hind” (language of India), as mentioned in Akbar’s consititution. Akbar himself had
conversed in “Zabān-e-Hind.” An episode is recorded when Akbar went to marry his
son Jahangir to the daughter of Raja Bhagwas Das, Raja said the following, with tra-
ditional humility:191
“hamāri beti tumhārey mahlon ki cheeri, ham band ghulām rey”
[our daughter is now a maid of your palace and we are your slaves]
Akbar replied spontaneously:

“tumhāri beti hamārey mahlon ki rāni, tum sahab sardār rey”
[your daughter is the queen of our palace and you our honored leader]
There was a noticeable change in language policy as well. Raja Todar Mal, the
revenue minister of Akbar, had made the learning of “Zaban-e-Hind” and Persian
compulsory for jobs. The Moghul court patronized a host of Hindi “Reekhta” poets.
Notable among these were Akbar’s own cabinet minister, Abdul Raheem Khan-
Khana, Raja Birbal, Faizi, Manohar Das, Raj Mān Singh, Gang Kavi, and many
others. In fact, Akbar’s court, according to Prof. Hasan,192 had become a nursery of
Hindi Reekhta poets. This trend and style basically continued through Aurangzeb,
who had maintained the tradition of awarding the title, “Kavi Rāj,” a SKT title
meaning “king of poets” or the “royal poet” to important poets. In fact the most
important contemporary poets of the so-called Hindi in the 19th-20th centuries were
190. S. K. Chatterji (1972), p. 213.

191. H. H. Qadri (1995), pp. 30–48.
175
Muslims. Besides the famous Jaisi reviewed earlier, others include Ālam and Jamal,
among many reviewed by Prof. Hasan. Shahjahan conferred the title, “Kavi Raj,” on
one poet, “Sunder,” for his work, Sunder Sringar. Prof. Hasan has cited examples of
contemporary poetry even composed by Raja Todar Mal and King Akbar himself.
But the point most worthy of notice is the simplicity of language, conveying straight
message with least amount of similies and metaphors and Persian-Arabic words. One
good example is from the poetry of Kamulddin Sādi Kakorwi (d. 1593) of Akbar’s
time:
“hamna tuman ko dil diya
tum dil liya aour dukh diya
ham yeh kiya tum voh kiya
aisi bhali yeh preet hai”
[I gave you my heart

you took my heart and gave me pain
I did this and you that.
What good is this love?]
During Jahangir’s time, one Mohammed Afzal (d. 1625) wrote an epic poem,
“Bikut Kahāni” (Unpleasant story of an unsuccessful lover), which is considered a
classic. By Shahjahan’s time Urdu/Hindi had become mandatory for employment.
One much celebrated contemporary poet was a bureaucrat of Shahjehan’s court,
Pandit Chandra Bhan (d. 1662), who later became the supervisor of Dara Shikoh’s
(Shahjehan’s son) library. Bhan is credited with the following couplet while at Delhi
and missing his hometown Agra:
khuda ne kis shaher andar haman ko lāey dāla hai
na dilbar hai na sāqi hai na sheesha hai na pyala hai…
[what kind of a city has god placed me in, where

(I have) no beloved, no cup bearer, no wine glass or cup here.]
One may certainly notice the increase in the number of Persian-Arabic words
(italics).
After the death of Aurangzeb, there were some notable poets in Delhi. But
Urdu poetry had progressed much more in the South and Gujrat, as noted earlier
(chapter VII). With Aurangzeb spending much of his life in the South, in Auran-
gabad, along with his bureaucracy, the poetry in the South moved even faster. Famous
poet, Wali (b. 1700), a Gujrati, had become a most noteworthy poet. His compilation,
or “Diwān” brought to Delhi in 1721 is considered a milestone. There were a couple
of outstanding poets in the North too.
Jāfar Zatli (d. 1707) is perhaps the first poet of satire, a style which Akbar
Allahabadi, a poet of modern times, later mastered. He was attached to the sons of
Aurangzeb, Princes Āzam and Mūazzam. Commenting on the succession struggle
among the brothers, Zātli reminisces the earlier times of Aurangzeb in the following
couplets:
176
“kahān ab pāp?i-yey ayesa shahenshah

mukammal, akmal va kamil dil āgāh”
[where does one find such a king of kings

perfect, practical, wise, and compassionate]
And he expresses instability and tension in the following:

“giya ikhlas ālam se ajab yeh daur āya hai
darey sab khalq zālim se ajab yeh daur āya hai
keh yāron mein rahi yāri na bhai-yun mein vafadāri
muhabbat uth gai sāri ajab yeh daur āya hai”
[affection is gone from this world, strange are these times

everyone is scared of the tyrant, strange are these times
There is no friendship among friends, no loyalty among brothers
Love does not exist any more, strange are these times]
The quality of poetry certainly reflects increasing modernity.

Religious Poetry
All through the Moghul era and the earlier phase, both Muslim and Hindu poets
freely contributed to the religious poetic literature of each other, revealing the tol-
erance in the Indian synthetic culture. Prof. Hasan’s work perhaps is the most illus-
trative and reveals numerous epic works and other works of Sufis and Bhakts, mostly
written in the Persian script. Usman of Ghazipur, famous for his Chitrauli, Sheikh
Nabi for Giyandeep, Qasim Shah for Hansjawahar, and Nur Mohammed of Jaunpur
for Indrauli and Anurāg Bansri. Nur Mohammed especially mentions that by using
Hindi and SKT one does not become a non-Muslim.
Tulsi Das
Goswami Tulsi Das, a friend of Raheem Khan Khana and a contemporary of
King Akbar, is globally famous for his Ramayan and Ram Charitra Manas. His style
is similar to that of Rasu and Padmawat (Chapter VII). His personal life and the cir-
cumstances of his writing have all become part of Hindu mythology, especially
among the Ram Bhakts or devotees of Northern India. His other works have been
overshadowed by Ramayan. Tulsi, according to Azād,193 used contemporary lan-
guage, mixed with Persian-Arabic in Nagari scripts. Some of these words include
“ghareeb” (poor), “ghareeb nawaz” (helper of the poor), “kula” (cap), and “bāgh”
(garden).
Surdas
Among Krishna Bhakt poets reviewed by Prof. Hasan, Surdas, who followed
Tulsi Das, is the leading one. Surdas’ life is again surrounded by mystery. He was
born blind, fell in a well, and after six days was rescued by Lord Krishna himself,
who also restored his eyesight.194 Surdas, like Tulsi Das, also used the contemporary
193. M. H. Azād (1998), p. 18.

177
language with many more Arabic-Persian words. According to Azād, one finds
Arabic-Persian words in every stanza. These words include “awāz” (sound), “bāz”
(deference), “vehem” (doubt), “jahāz” (ship), “ghareeb” (poor), and “sāz” (musical
instrument).
Other poets of this period, Vidapathi, Mirabai, and several others, used Arabic-
Persian words such as “surat” (face), “peywand” (patch), “jamana” (freeze, gather,
collect, or solidify in Arabic). The point to remember here again is that language
remains a temporal utility and one finds Sufis and Bhakts using it freely, certainly not
to the liking of some future historians, 19th century Hindi linguists, and communally-
oriented politicians.
8.5 Persian Racism and Reekhta Reaction
During the first quarter of the 18th century, we find elements of some linguistic
racism among Persian speakers and poets against Indians who used Persian as a
second language. Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, were quite proficient in Persian
and used an Indianized variety and generated volumes of literature, a tradition which
continued through the 20th century. Persian speakers sometimes made fun of it with
arrogance.195 This superiority complex later came to an open clash with Indians,
especially after Nadir Shah’s loot and massacres. One Persian poet, a new arrival,
Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hazeen, in his journal (1741) Tazkirāt-ul-Ahwāl (Com-
mentary on Current Events), made condescending remarks about India, Indians, and
Indian Persian. This was responded to very maturely by the famous Indian scholar,
Sirajuddin Ali Khan Ārzoo, who wrote in his journal (174143) Tambeeh-e-Ghafileen
(Corrections for the Ignorant). Dr. Jalibi states that Ārzoo had highlighted the lin-
guistic synthesis as a historical phenomenon, creating country-specific languages
which are never mutually comparable.
Identifying many mistakes and errors in Sheikh Hazeen’s work as a patriotic
duty, Arzoo went further and recommended to his students and the younger gener-
ation to adopt the Indian Reekhta Hindi. His message was welcomed by the new gen-
eration of Hindu-Muslim poets, including Ābru, Tek Chand, Bahār, Dard, and Ānand
Ram Mukhlis, and inspired the great ones like Mir and Sauda. Although Persian and
its poetry persisted for another hundred years, Reekhta-Urdu received a much needed
boost.
Rafi Ahmed Sauda, a famous Delhi poet, expressed his patriotism for India in
the following words:
“koi zabān ho lāzim hai khubee-ey mazmūn
zabān-e fars par kuch munhasir sukhan to nahein”
[whatever language it may be, its quality lies in its theme or subject
poetry is not dependent on Persian alone]
“kahan tak tu unki zabān ko durust boley ga

zabān apni mein tu bandh māneyey rangeen”
195. Jamil Jalibi (Vol. I) (1995), pp. 20–36.
178
[how long will you try to speak their language correctly?

Capture in your own language those colorful ideas]
Reekhta-Urdu kept its surge in the North and had become quite popular, espe-
cially among Kayashtas, an educated Hindu sect who also indulged in street singing.9
Persian and Reekhta-Urdu tension is definitely reminiscent of the old SKT-PKT
polemics; nevertheless Persian continued to play a major role in the growth of Urdu
and Hindi. Dr. Jalibi provides numerous examples of ideas in Persian directly trans-
ferred to Urdu/Hindi by very close translation. The following example among many
an Urdu couplet of Mir is followed by a Persian original and English translation; Mir
had used Khusro’s Persian couplet:
Urdu (Mir)
“ām hukmey sharāb karta hun
mohtasib ko kabāb karta hun”
Persian (Khusro)
“ām hukmey sharāb me khowa hum
moh tasib ra kabāb me khowa hum”
[I order wine for general use

To make the preacher burn like kabab]
8.6 URDU: NEW BRAND NAME AND CULTURE
The Turkish word, “horde,” meaning “camp, group, troop, assembly,” was used
for the royal elite, or the exalted royalty, or Urdu-e-Moalla. Since Shahjahan’s time it
was transferred imperceptibly to the terms Hindi and Reekhta, as the royalty had also
started to use the language instead of Turkish or Persian. Zabān-e-Urdu-Moalla (lan-
guage of the exalted camp) was shortened to “Urdu.”
Its major usage coincided with Delhi’s cultural revolution after Nadir Shah, a
phase considered politically depressing, corrupt, and degenerate by many. But it
created not only the modern Urdu/Hindi but also the fundamentals of the subcon-
tinent’s show biz.
In this politically chaotic but culturally rich milieu, there was a general
breakdown of morality and values. Moghul kings were even marrying dancing girls.
Lal Kunwar married Jahandar Shah, Anūp Bai married Alamgir II, and Udham Bai’s
marriage to the famous Mohammed Shah even gave India a Moghul king, Ahmed
Shah. Moghul enterprise, now a sinking ship, was wrought with increasing poverty,
decreased productivity and security, a lack of law enforcement, and the prevalence of
social evils, such as prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling and other
crimes. Several political vectors or interest groups started to emerge, centering
around Delhi, and clashed on various fault lines such as Irani-Turāni, Shia-Sunni,
Marhatta and non-Marhatta, Royalist vs. Sikhs, and Persian vs. Reekhta. In this
chaotic but secular system the kings lacking courage had even compromised their
own exalted status. In the shrinking gap between the exalted camp and the bazaar or
179
street camp the bridge was the new language. True sense of the term Urdu thus repre-
sents the linguistic bridge as the poetry of the royal kings became street friendly and
found a place in ordinary usage.
The Delhi culture, with respectability granted to prostitutes and dancing girls
presumably of the lowest social status, became famous as the Tawāef culture (tawāef
in Arabic means circling or dancing). This culture trickled down to all levels,
including Nawabs, Amirs, governors, and even to the lower ranks and to the petty
bourgeoisie, many of whom took pride in having concubines and even married them.
This was an institution of evening entertainment or “mahfil” or “mujra” a singing and
musical session driven by Urdu poetry, filling the need for stage and film. Delhi’s
Urdu and Tawāef culture also became known as “Kotha” culture (tawāefs usually
occupied the “kotha” or upper stories of buildings, popularizing the word kotha). This
culture also proliferated into other cities like Lucknow, Allahabad, Lahore, Patna, and
Agra, along with migrating poets, riches, and royalties. Of course, Delhi did not
invent this oldest human system/profession. One finds its roots in Sumerian temple
prostitutes (Chapter III) as well as the Indian Hindu temple Dev-dāsi system. In fact,
Delhi and Urdu gave it a modern idiom and respectability for good or for bad. Its
major offspring, the modern film – Urdu, is a chapter (XIV) by itself.
Tawāef culture mainly uses light ghazal poetry, which has now achieved a level
of respectability and is dominated by famous South Asian singers like Mehdi Hasan,
Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, and many others. Parallel to the tawāefs, less expensive
bands led by eunuchs or “hijra” or “chukka” also use Urdu/Hindi poetry. They use
simpler and often vulgar language and normally dance in people’s homes to celebrate
marriage and childbirth. Qawwāls, usually bands of male singers, sing devotional
songs in Arabicized music. This form of singing usually takes place at tombs of
saints, e.g., at Ajmer, Delhi, Lahore, Sind, and all over the sub-continent. They use
devotional Sufi poetry and are quite popular.
In the Hindu devotional singing, too, in temples or on religious occasions,
Urdu/Hindi provides the format called “bhajans.” This form of poetry uses Persian to
a lesser degree, as illustrated in the works of Tulsi Das and Surdas. Another form of
devotional Urdu poetry is called “marsia,” and it focuses on the martyrdom of
Prophet Mohammed’s grandchildren. Milād, or mouloud, is another social event that
marks the birth of Prophet Mohammed and is celebrated annually. The word “milād”
has its root in Arabic and means “birth or arrival” (the same word is used by Christian
Arabs for Christmas). Poetic compositions sung in praise of the Prophet Mohammed
on the occasion are called “nāt” in Urdu.
8.7 URDU’S LINGUISTIC GROWTH
Sirajuddin Khan Ali Arzoo196 (1687-1756), the anti-Persian activist and pro-
Urdu revolutionary, was also the first modern comparative linguist after Hem
Chandra and Amir Khusro. He is the first to document common vocabulary between
196. Jamil Jalibi (Vol. I), pp. 148–176.
180
SKT, Persian, and Urdu/Hindi. A polylinguist scholar with a knowledge of SKT,

Persian, Punjabi, Brij bhāsa, Oudhi, and music, Arzoo had authored two famous
books written in Persian: Tawafiqul Lisāneen (survey/scanning of languages) and
Navādir-al-Alfāz (wonderful thought-provoking words). Due to the chaos in Delhi, he
too moved to Lucknow with many other Urdu poets but returned and died soon after.
In accordance with his will, he was buried in the house next to his famous friend, dis-
ciple, historian, and poet, Anand Ram Mukhlis. Arzoo was the one who also started
using the term “Urdu” and coined the patriotic phrase, “Hindustan Jannat Nishan”
(India, Reflection of Paradise).
Arzoo had noticed the difficulties among Indians with special Arabic/Persian
phonemes, i.e., z, gh, etc. and had suggested the exclusion of mispronounced words
from the standard dictionary. He also recommended that the words ending with the
aspirant “h” be replaced with “a,” since that is a natural tendency of Indian speakers
i.e. “rupiah → rupia, or ruppe,” “lalah → lala, or tulip etc.
One major institution Arzoo had created is the “mushaira,” which started as a
monthly session at his home to promote Urdu. “Mushaira,” a poets’ conference or
assembly of poets, had and continued to have an academic perspective, especially at a
time when the print media was absent. Its modern version lends itself to an enter-
tainment perspective and is popular worldwide as described in Chapter XII.
8.8 POETS AND POETRY OF THE 18TH CENTURY – A GLIMPSE
As we trace the poetic tradition from Amir Khusro through Nanak (13-18th
centuries), Jaisi, and later to Hatim, Chandra Bhan, linguist Arzoo, and other master
poets, it is important to remember that it is the same single language, Indian hybrid
PKT with no religious affiliation and under evolution. These poets and their work can
be appreciated with even greater intensity and ironic pity, if one realizes that their lan-
guage and literature a generation later would be branded as foreign or Muslim, of
which they had no idea or sense of culpability. Among the best reviews on Urdu
poetry within a historical context are the works of Jalibi, Salim Akhtar, and others.
The only one in English and, perhaps, the most analytical was written in 1920-30s by
R.B. Saxena. He especially reveals an apparent Hindi vs. Urdu polemic and bias,
blaming Urdu poets for deliberate ejection of Hindi and SKT words and also of
ignoring Indian themes. A quotation follows: “the early Urdu poets were no scholars
of SKT or Hindi and they did not befriend those Hindi words; they ruthlessly ejected
them, supplementing them by Persian and Arabic.”197
As we have noted, Arabic-Persian acquisition has been a slow natural process,
but never deliberate, and many poets and scholars, including Arzoo and those to be
reviewed, were SKT and Brij Bhasha scholars. He was wrong on both fronts. But
Saxena accepted Urdu as purely Indian and lauds Urdu poetry as being among the
best in the world.
197. R. B. Saxena (1999), pp. 16–34.
181
“…at its best (it) is sublimely emotional and makes a powerful appeal to senti-
ment…. There are gems scattered throughout Urdu poetry which can compare
favorably with the best of English literature or, for that matter, with any literature
of the world, in the loftiness of thought, in the delicacy of emotion, in melody and
rhyme, in the richness of imagery, and in the haunting quality which is the hallmark
of genuine poetry.”
Most poets of this era have focused on “ghazals,” with themes of love, wine,
women, love of god, and humanism, in which each couplet provides an independent
theme. There is no example of this in any Western language, except Persian and
Arabic. They have written “qaseeda” (panagyrics) style also, which is written in
praise of persons, benefactors, kings, bosses, etc., and “masnavi,” or an epic-type nar-
rative.
Most historians categorize the poets according to regions or city centers, like
South, Delhi, Lucknow, Lahore, etc., or by chronology, and/or by themes or forms of
poetry. Since this book is not a history of literature but focuses on the evolution of the
language, it will only review some representative poets, their language and themes
reflecting the political evolution of the language.
8.8.1 Poets and Poetry of South India
As noted in the previous chapter, South had even pre-empted the North and
poets of Hyderabad, Arcot in Tamil Nadu and Ahmedabad, Gujrat produced signif-
icant literature. Hyderabad, which after Nadir Shah’s invasion had become almost an
autonomous country, became one of the most important Urdu centers in the world.
Also part of South, Gujrat had produced one of the most inspiring Urdu poets.
Wali Deccani (1668-1725)
Born in Surat and died in Ahmedabad, Gujrat, Wali has been compared to the
English poet Chaucer by R. B. Saxena.198 His poetry itself contradicts the political
comments of Saxena that Urdu poets had focused on West Asian Muslim lands and
culture at the cost of ignoring the Indian landscape, implying that “they were less
Indian” than Hindi or Hindi poets, a political issued dealt with later (Chapters IX–X).
Wali was Sufism-oriented and focused a lot on humanism in simple, straight
Reekhta, which looks like modern Urdu. Wali can be called the first patriotic Gujrati
poet. In a long poem he wrote the following about his city, Surat:
“ajab shehron mein pur nūr aek shehr
bila shak hai voh jag mein maqsad-e-deher
ke mash-hūr us ka nām sūrat
keh jāwey jis ke dekhey sab kadūrat”
[Among the wonderful cities is a brilliant city

certainly, this is one place for material gain
famous is its name Surat
The sight of it removes all ill feelings]
198. R. B. Saxena (1999), p. 45.
182
The next one is a famous ghazal copied by a lyricist and sung by the famous
Jagjit Singh:
“sājan tum much sati kholo naqab āhista āhista
keh gul son nikalta hai gulāb āhista āhista”
[beloved, remove the veil from your face gradually

just like the rose that blooms gradually]
Wali had left many students/disciples, both Hindu and Muslim poets, in Gujrat
and elsewhere, including Lala Khem Das, Amrit Lal, Gauhar Lal, and Mohammed
Yār Khan Dehlvi. Sadly, his tomb was destroyed in the recent Hindu-Muslim riots in
Gujrat (2002). Wali, according to Jalibi,199 had helped to adopt many Persian idioms
now used in Urdu, Hindi, and Gujrati.
8.8.2 Poets and Poetry of the North (East and West)
Besides the twin cities of Delhi and Agra, also called Akbarabad, Oudh
(Lucknow and Faizabad), Patna, or Azimabad in East had produced several poets.
Lahore remained relatively quiet because of the unstable political situation. Oudh’s
governor, Asifud-Daula (d. 1797), moved his capital from Faizabad to a new city,
Lucknow (1795), which was originally a shelter for Delhi’s poets and grew into a
major center of Urdu literature. The last Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, himself a poet, was
exiled to Calcutta (1856), which also became a center of excellence.
At Delhi, major poets include three A’s: Arzoo, Abru, Anjam, Hatim Mir Dard,
Mazhar, Mazmun, Yakrang, and Ram Mukhlis. Lucknow, founded by migrants,
include three Mir’s: Mir Taqi, Hasan, Soz, and Sauda and locals, such as Atish and
Naseem. At Patna, there were Shād and Bedil. At Agra, there was Nazir, the master
poet of the time. A short review reveals a simplicity of language, coverage of Indian
themes, and also evidence of scholarship in SKT language.
Khan Arzoo, essentially a Persian poet and SKT scholar, has written some
Urdu poetry as follows:
“abas dil bekasi peh apni tun har waqt rota hai
na kar gham aey diwaney ishq mein aisa hi hota hai”
[O heart, why do you cry over your helplessness

do not lament you fool, this is what happens in love]
Anand Narain Mukhlis (1699–1751)

Born into a family of Persian poets of Delhi and politically close to the Delhi
Court, Mukhlis, mainly a Persian poet, was also the vakil (lawyer) of the Emperor’s
Prime Minister, Nusrat Jang. Part of Arzoo’s anti-Persian crusade, Mukhlis also wrote
some poetry in Urdu, heeding his mentor Arzoo:
“saba yun arz kar un lādli zulfon ki khidmat mein
bhal hai ya bura hai, dil diwāna phir tumhāra hai”
199. Jamil Jalibi (Vol. I), p. 553.
183
[O breeze, let the ruffled locks of her hair know

for better or worse, this crazy heart belongs to her]
Ameer Khan Anjām (d. 1746)

An important nobleman in Mohammad Shah’s Court, Nawab Ameer Khan had
combined humor, wit, humility, and intelligence with a charitable personality. As
Governor of Allahabad, he continued his literary creativity and founded a big library.
He was assassinated in a palace intrigue at Delhi.
Anjām was a scholar of SKT, Persian, and Arabic, and founded an academy
with the responsibility of evaluating and standardizing various words, idioms, and
phrases and disseminating them all over India. He wrote both Persian and contem-
porary Urdu. One example is as follows:
“dūr se ā-ey they sāqi sun ke mai khāney ko hum
par tarastey hi chaley ab aek paimāney ko hum
kiyūn nahi leta hamāri tu khabar ai be khabar
kya terey āshiq huwey they dard va gham khāney ko hum”
[O Sāqi! I came a long way after hearing about your bar

But I leave now yearning for just one cup
Why do you not ask about me oh complacent one?
Did I become your lover only to suffer pain and heartache?]
Anjām left his academic legacy to the famous poet, Hātim, Sheikh Zahur-uddin
Hātim (1699-1783).
A disciple of Anjām, Hātim’s copious works cover most of the turbulent 18th
century. He never married and become oriented toward Sufism and sainthood, espe-
cially after Anjām’s death. One of his outstanding verses reads:
“zindagi dard sar hu-ei hatim
kab miley ga mujhey piya mera”
[life has become a headache

when will I meet my beloved (god) ?]
Hātim composed a masnavi (a long poem on a single topic) describing “coffee

and tobacco” and also described the “ruined state of a city,” titled “Shaherey
Āsub,” 200 and depicting Delhi’s destruction after Nadir Shah. He has vividly
described the immorality, corruption, selfishness, hunger, and bribery at the higher
levels, and the justice system. A few examples are:
“es zamāney mein hamāra dil kyunkar na ho udās
dekh kar aihwāley ālam ur jatey hain hawās”
[My heart should indeed be sad, in these times
200. Jamil Jalibi (Vol. II), pp. 426–491.
184
looking at the state of the world one can lose one’s mind]
As a realist however, Hātim recommends patience in the following verse:

“Hātim yehi hamaisha zamāney ki chāl hai
shikwa baja nahein hai tujhey inqilāb ka”
[Hātim, this is how the world has moved always

so it’s inappropriate to complain about revolution]
Mir Dard (1721–1785)

Khwaja Mir Dard led the Delhi school when the other three Mirs had migrated
to Lucknow. With a Sufi bent of mind and a love for music, Dard was critical of poets
living off poetry. To him, poetry was a serious academic and spiritual pursuit. His
poetry combines the love of man and god. One beautiful quote about life is:
“zindagi hai ya koi tūfān hai
ham to es jeeney ke hāthon mar chaley”
[is this life or is it a tempest?

I seem to be dying at the hands of such living]
Dard continued with the tradition of monthly Reekhta poetry meetings at Delhi
founded by Arzoo. According to Dr. Jalibi,201 Dard made an enormous contribution
to Urdu and Persian. In the verses below he has used the simplest folk language to
describe the fate of a plant, a flower bud, in half bloom, full bloom, and finally with-
ering and dying:
“kais tun ko bhavat hai, aur kaisi ki sukh pavat hai
yeh phulvāri dard hamein kuch aur sama-ey dikhlavat hai
kalyān man mein sochat hain jab phūl koi kumhlavat hai
jādin va per beet gaiy-o va din moh per āwat hai”
[whatever you like and however you enjoy

this blooming plant, Dard is showing me a different reality
each time a flower withers, buds ponder in their hearts
the fate of the flower will soon be ours]
This is beautifully said in Brij and the Eastern accent, devoid of any Arabic-
Persian with the exception of his title (Dard). This is testimony to the variety in Urdu/
Reekhta poetry as well as the command of the poets of those times. Compare the
former with the following verse from a ghazal:
“ji ki ji hi mein rahi bāt na hoaney pā-ei
aek bhi us se mulaqāt na hoaney pā-ei”
[heart’s desire remained within; there was no conversation
201. Jamil Jalibi (Vol. II), pp. 824–830.
185
there couldn’t be even one meeting with the beloved]
This rhyme and meter was used almost two centuries later by a famous music
director, Naushad, of Bombay, in the lyrics of his famous film, Mughal-e-Azam. It
runs as follows:
“Jāney waley se mulaqāt na hoaney pā-ei
dil ki dil mein hi rahi, bāt na hoaney pā-ei”
[I could not meet the departed one

couldn’t talk with him, heart’s desire remained within]
Mir Dard’s philosophy is reminiscent of Kabir and Nānak, seeing god every-
where (monism, or Advaita). He has used very simple language to express lofty ideas
in the verse below:
“jag mein ākar edhar udhar dekha
voh hi āya nazar jidhar dekha”
[wherever I looked around the world

all I saw was Him]
During the political chaos, turmoil, intrigue, and assassinations of Delhi, the
kings also resorted to poetry and perhaps found solace in it.
8.8.3 Poet Kings of Delhi
Shah Ālam died in 1806 after a 45-year rule. A contemporary of Hātim and
Dard, he was a learned scholar and a poet of both Persian and Urdu, and wrote under
the title or pen name “Āftab,” meaning “sun.” His diwān and a masnavi have sur-
vived. The king’s successor, Akbar Shah II (18061837), too was a poet and used the
title, “Shu’wāien,” (sun’s rays). His poetic tradition was preserved by his son,
Bahadur Shah Zafar (18371862). The famous poet/king ascended the throne when his
brother, Suleiman Shikoh (d. 1837), a student of poet Hātim, died. By this time the
kings had become merely stipendary figureheads. Shah Alam was the first one pro-
tected under this status by the benign benevolence of EIC. His compulsion is
expressed in the following oft-quoted couplet:
“āqibat ki khabar khuda jāney
ab to ārām se guzarti hai”
[god alone knows what awaits in the hereafter

at least life now is one of comfort and ease!]
8.8.4 Lucknow Poetry and Culture (18 th –19 th Century)
The couplet cited above is a true reflection of the unchallenged and com-
fortable lives of kings, nawābs, governors, and rajas who duplicated “Delhi’s cul-
tures.” Lucknow, a modern capital district “Qaiser Bagh,” (Caesar’s Garden) built in
186
French style under EIC protection by the nawābs who had declared “Shia Islam” as
the state religion and had developed a regional variant of Delhi culture. The “tawāef”
or “kotha” culture was a major element in which Lucknow even surpassed Delhi. It
created music, drama, poetry, and new varieties of cuisine such as 25 different types
of pilaf (fried rice), 15 types of kabābs, etc.202 “Tawāefs” mushroomed. Nawāb
Shuja-ud-Daula’s harem had more than 2700 women. Life in Lucknow became
famous for its evening of dance, music, and women, and the term, “Sham-e-Oudh”
(Evening of Oudh) synonymous with an evening in Paris still lives on in literature.
Literature and learning did make some progress. Ghāziuddin Hyder (1814) had
founded libraries and had European books translated to Urdu, updated Arabic-Persian
dictionaries, and founded institutions with research capabilities in sciences. Being a
Shia Muslim state, the celebration of Muharram (Martyrdom of Hussain) was a major
part of Lucknow culture which even included non-Muslims throughout Oudh. Urdu
poetry generated the best “marsias” in this regard.
The migrant poets, Mirs Sauda and Mushafi, duplicated the Delhi quality
which gradually changed. One finds more sensuality and nudity, and less philosophy
and spirituality.
Mir Taqi Mir (1722–1810)
Mir is regarded as “the master poet of ghazal.” His extensive works include
marsia and qaseeda, etc. Born at Agra, he went through the political turmoil of Delhi,
economic deprivation, and personal tragedies – all reflected in his work. Mir was
widely acclaimed during his lifetime and shows such awareness in the following:
“partey phiren gey galyun mein en reekhteyun ko log
muddat rahein gi yād yeh bātain hamāry an”
[People on the streets will recite these reekhta couplets

My words will be remembered for a long time to come]
It is said that Mir had introduced himself at his first Lucknow mushaira by
describing Delhi’s destruction and its impact on him through the following verses:
“kya būd bāsh pāchtey ho pārab ke sākino
ham ko ghareeb jān ke hans hans pukār ke
dehli jo aek shaher tha ālam mein intekhāb
rahtey thaiy muntakhib hi jahān rosegār ke
usko falak ne loot ke virān kar diya
hum rahney vāley hain ūsi ujrey deyār ke”
[what do you want to know of my welfare, O people of the East?

As you laugh and make fun of my poverty
This city Delhi, was once the world’s unique city
Special people with select jobs would live here
Destiny looted it and rendered it deserted
And I am the inhabitant of that impoverished abode]
202. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 183–213.
187
His complete diwān, Kuliyāt, is massive. Three couplets of Mir are among his
most famous ones:
“hasti apni habab ki see hai
yeh numāish serāb ki see hai
nāzuki us ke lab ki kya kahiyey
pankhari aek gulāb ke see hai
mir in neem-bāz ānkhon mein
sāree mastee sharāb ki see hai”
[My existence is like a bubble

The appearance is a mirage
How should I describe her fragile lips?
As if they are petals of a rose
Mir, her half-closed eyes
Have the drunkenness of wine]
Mir Hasan (1737–1786)

Mir Ghulam Hasan was born and educated in Delhi and became famous for
masnavi, including “Saher-ul-Bayān,” several hundred couplets describing the love
story of a prince and a princess. Mir Hasan appreciates himself as follows:203
“nai tarz hai aur ani hai zabān
nahain masnavi, hai yeh saher-ul-bayān
rahey ga jahān mein mera is-sey nām
key hai yādgāre jahān ye kalām”
[This is a new style and a new language

it’s not a masnawi but a magical narrative
my name will live on in the world because of this
this work is a memoir of these times]
His grandson, Mir Anees, later molded his style into marsia tradition and main-
tained the literary tradition.
Mirza Mohammed Rafi Sauda (1713–1781)
Sauda of Delhi, as previously noted, had adopted Reekhta. One of Arzoo’s dis-
ciples, he is considered a master poet of Reekhta, excelling in “qaseeda” style.
Reekhta poetry is found in several of his compositions; one runs as follows:
“kahey tha Reekhta kahney ko nādān bhi
so yūn kaha mein keh dāna hunar kahney laga”
[Reekhta was once considered inferior even by the unwise

my style compelled the wise to call it an art]
203. R. B. Saxena (1999), pp. 73–76.
188
Sauda’s contribution is copious and includes all types of poetry. In one “hajo”
(satirical style) he taunts religious clerics:
Kya jāney sheikh kāba geya ya ba suwey dair
Itna to jānte hain keh pyāla leyey geya”
[who knows whether the sheikh went to kāba (mecca) or the (hindu) temple
all we know is that he took the wine cup]
Sheikh Ghulam Hamdāni Mushafi (17481824)
Mushafi, another significant poet, also from Delhi, later migrated to Lucknow.
He completed eight Urdu diwān and three in Persian. His personal life, as described
by Dr. Akhtar, 16 lacked discipline. He had multiple women in his life, and so his
poetry also reflects a level of sensuality. Some of his work is extremely popular
among the ghazal singers of today. One popular ode sung by Chitra Singh is:
“hijr tha ya wisāl tha kya tha
khwāb tha ya khyāl tha kya tha”
[Was it separation or union (with the beloved) ?

Was it a dream or just imagination?]
8.8.5 Poets/Poetry of Other Places
Many centers such as Agra, Allahabad, Patna, and Punjab were seeded with the
Delhi style and language quality of the 18th century. Allahabad, a Moghul provincial
capital, was given a jumpstart by its governor, poet Anjām, noted above, and fol-
lowed up by ten years residence of Moghul emperor Shah Alam, a scholar of SKT
and Persian, and a poet himself. Agra, or Akbarabad, the twin of Delhi, former capital
and birthplace of many master poets like Arzoo, Mir, Ghalib, and others also became
a refuge of one of the most celebrated poets, Nazir Akbarabādi (17401830). A com-
moner and one who lacked royal patronage, Nazir came to Agra and worked as a
private teacher of Hindu and Muslim children. As a typical Indian of his time, Nazir
respected all cultures and faiths. His work stands unique in focusing on nature and
real life. It reflects humanism, satire, and humor. He was a people’s poet of the bazār.
Nazir lived like a saint and loved his home, Agra, as expressed in the following
verses:
“muflis kaho, faqir kaho, āgrey ka hai
shā-er kaho, Nazir kaho āgrey ka hai”
[call him poor, call him a beggar, he is of Agra

call him a poet, call him Nazir, he is of Agra]
As a small-time teacher, one never gets rich, and Nazir captured this in the fol-
lowing:
“voh jo ghareeb ghurba ke bacchey parahtey hain
un ki to umr bhar nahein jāti hai muflasi”
[those who teach poor men’s kids
189
they remain in poverty all through their lives]
Nazir’s status as a “poet of nature” has remained largely unchallenged. He

excelled in all topics, including seasons, fruits, poverty, Hindu festivals like holi, and
food items like “chapāti” and “roti” (bread). A piece from his famous poem, “Roti”
(bread) represents food and its relationship to livelihood. Here is an extract from a
long poem:
“roti na paet mein ho to kuch jatan na ho
meley ki sai-er, khwahish bāgh va chaman na ho
bhūkey ghareeb dil ki khuda se lagan na ho
sach hai kaha kisi ne ke bhūkey bhajan na ho
Allah ki bhi yād dilāti hain roti-yān”
[Without bread in one’s stomach, no work is done

You don’t want entertainment or a walk in the garden
A hungry and starving person will not be close to god
And neither will he be able to sing devotional songs
The need for “roti” will make one remember god]
Nazir has also composed ghazals. Some of his couplets have retained their
fame, like the one below:
“mai bhi hai, meena bhi hai, sāgar bhi, sāqi nahein
ji mein āta hai laga dain āg mai khāne ko h
[wine, wine cup and wine bottles are there but not the cupbearer (sāqi)
I feel like putting the whole bar on fire]
Nazir’s popularity is not due to his ghazals, but his thematic poetry. The more
popular ones include “Ādmi” (Man) and “Banjāra.” “Roti,” (Bread) was duplicated in
a Bombay film and sung by Mohammad Rafi. Its first stanza reads:
“diwāna āna ādmi ko banāti hain rotiyān
khud nachti hain sab ko nachāti hain rotiyān”
[Bread makes man crazy

they dance themselves and make everyone dance]
Patna, of Bihar state in the East, served as a safe haven for several poets like
Asghar (d. 1776) and Joshish (1747–1801), whose poetry is quite similar. But an
earlier poet, Tehqeeq, (1659–1749), who had gained some fame, used typical Eastern
Hindi, now famous as Bihari Urdu/Hindi. An example is:204
“sarjan tere mukhrey mein suraj ki kiran dha hai
dekh hon jo tuj mukh ko naina mere chandha hain”
204. S. N. Naqvi (1997), pp. 87–91.
190
[O my beloved, sun rays live in your face

When I look at you my eyes are dazzled]
In this language, free of Persian/Arabic, only four words (underlined) are SKT,
and the rest are Munda Dravidian. In Western India or Punjab, which had remained
chaotic and insecure because of Nadir, Abdali, and Sikh armies, some literary activity
continued, as reviewed by Drs. Salim Akhtar and Sheerani.205 Poets such as Nasir Ali
Sirhindi, Dilshad, and Shah Murad seem to have been inspired by Wali. A verse from
Shah Murad (1770–1800) is representative:
“voh Urdu kya hai yeh Hindi zabān hai
keh jis key qābil ab sāra Hindustan hai”
[What’s Urdu, it is an Indian language

And now all of India is worthy of it]
Another poet, Namdar Khan Dutt (c.1762), was a commander of Cirhat Singh,
grandfather of the famous Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh. Dutt’s long marsia (lamentation)
on Cirhat’s death is written in the contemporary language of Delhi and Lucknow
schools.
Triggered by the anti-foreign (Persian) sentiment, poetry in the 18th century
had almost reached its zenith. But Urdu prose remained rather stunted because the
administrative machinery and education was entirely dependent on Persian and so
harder to displace.
8.9 PROSE: INDIAN UTILITY
Even the powerful anti-Persian reaction reveals no dent to entrenched Persian,

the vital medium of education and bureaucracy of India, Central Asia, and Iran. But
need-based movements, e.g., religious use, did create some material for three reli-
gions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. As noted earlier in Chapter VII, Urdu/Hindi
prose had already taken a lead in the South through the work of Sufi Gaisu Daraz
(1422). The quality of prose from the South reflects a consistently simple language.
Bāqar Āgāh (1745-1805), an Urdu poet from Vellore, or Allore, in modern Tamil
Nadu, or Madras, had written a simple foreword commentary on Wali’s work as
follows:206
“en sab risālon mein shāeri nahein kya hon,
aeh bhai yeh risāley dakkhni zabān mein hain.”
[There is no poetry in these journals.

O brother, these journals are in the Southern tongue.]
205. H. M. Sheerani (1993), pp. 266–311.

206. J. Jalibi (Vol. II), pp. 999–1021.
191
Expressions such as “kya hon, dya hon” (doing and giving) are sometimes
heard in the South and also in Bihar. Compare this with Sauda’s, an anti-Persian revo-
lutionary and a committed Reekhta/Hindi poet. One specimen, a foreword from his
diwān, reveals a concentration of Persian/Arabic:207
“zameer par ā-iena dārāney maaney kay mobir han ho ke mahez enāyat haq tāala
ki hai jo tūti-ey natiqa sheeren sukhan ho”
Here only 6 (30%) words out of 20 consist of auxiliary verbs (ho, hai) and par-
ticles (par, jo, and ki); the rest are Persian-Arabic (70%).
A major effort was really needed to dilute this viscous piece and bring it more
in line with the conversational style of the South. New, diluted phrases and idioms
were compiled by Barkatullah Eshqi (1729) in his book, Awaruf-e-Hindi. From this
long list provided by Dr. Jalibi, a few are extracted as follows:
Urdu/Hindi English equivalent

Tâli dono hâth bâje - You need two hands to clap (it takes two to tango)
Bandar ke hâth naryal - A coconut in a monkey’s hand (unqualified for a job)
Doodh ka jala chanch phûk
- Once burnt, twice shy
phûk ke piye
Âm key âm, ghutli ke dâm - Profit from discarded items like the mango pit
8.9.1 Religious Utility Prose
The Christian Renaissance, perhaps, took an earlier lead in the South. The
Dutch Ambassador (1722), John Ketler, calling Urdu “Industan,” or Hindi, composed
a grammar Lingua Hindustanica, which included the Lord’s prayer:
“hamarey bāp keh voh āsmān men hai, pāk hovey tera nām, āway hamko mulk
tera, hovey rāj tera, jon āsmān ton jameen men, roti hamāri na thi, ham ko ās dey
aur maāf kar taqsir apni ham ko ……amen”
[Our father, thou art in heaven, holy be thy name, be thy kingdom on heaven and
earth, we had no bread. Give us hope and forgive our mistakes…amen.]
This is the period in the South when the French, especially, were spreading the
dragnet to convert Hindus and creating fake Veda (Ezour Vedam). Just about this time
in the North, Fazal Ali Fazli (1710–1750) wrote a long narrative, Karbal Katha
(Story of Karbala), a city in Iraq, where Hussain and his party were martyred. Con-
sidered the first prose of the North, its reflection was religious utility. These narra-
tives would usually accompany lamentation, crying, and weeping in Muharram
observances among the audience. Fazli’s take was that the recitation from the well-
known Persian work, Rauzat-ul-Shuhada, does not provoke commotions “crying with
tears,” (which implies religious “sawāb” -merit) especially among women and others
unlettered in Persian. Fazli justifies the need in Urdu as follows:
207. S. N. Naqvi (1997), p. 259.
192
“…aksar auqāt bād kitāb khwani sab yeh mazkūr karney keh sad haif va sad
hazār afsās jo hum kum naseeb e bārat fārsi nahein samajhtey aur rāney kay sawāb se
benaseeb rahey"
[…often after reading the Farsi book, it is a thousand shames and a thousand
sadnesses (he felt), those unfortunate of us, who don’t understand Persian and thus
are deprived of sawāb or merit.]
Karbala stories, in general, are adapted to Indian cultural idioms and also
contain sermons from Hussain himself addressing his enemies: 208
“aey qaum dar us khuda sey…us khuda par iqrār iqrār rakhtey ho aur uskey
rasul mohammed Mustafa par keh dāda mera hai, imān lāey ho. Pus mujh par sitam
kar aur zulm rava na rakkho aur daro fardā-ey qyamat se, ke jab dāda aur bāp man
merey tum se dushmani Karen aur hauz kausar se tum hein pāni na dein"
[O people (tribe) be afraid of god … that god you believe and the prophet
Mohammed Mustafa, my grandfather you have accepted him. Do not oppress me and
be fearful of the day of judgment, and the day when my grandfather, father, and
mother may be adverse to you and may not let you take water from Lake Kausar
(mythical lake in heaven).]
This passage is a good example of 18th century prose.
Qur’anic translation implies the same spirit of “understanding the message,”
rather than just passive recitation with comprehension. Two scholars, Shah Rafiuddin
(1750–1818) and Shah Abdul Qadir (1753–1814), sons of the famous Delhi scholar,
Shah Waliullah, had called their translated language “Hindi”- Reekhta, and not Urdu.
A piece of Rafiuddin’s Hindi commentary is extracted from Dr. Jalibi’s209
book:
“Haq taāla ne Hazrat Adam ko meccay ke pass nomān aek maidan us men
paida kya…āp tanhāee se ghabrātay they…Haq taāla ney jibraeiel ko bheja, aur
unhon ne unki bā-ien pasli ke neechey chāk kiya aur usmein se Hawwa ke haq taāla
ki qudrat se paid ho ghaien thein, nikāl kar unke pass baitha diya.”
[Exalted true one (god) made Adam appear as a nomad in a field in Mecca. He
was unhappy with loneliness … the true one (god) sent Gabriel who slashed the left
rib of Adam to deliver Eve, who was miraculously born there and made her sit near
him (Adam)]
This language is pretty modern. Rafiuddin admits that word-for-word trans-
lation of scripture is a difficult venture:
“ab kai bātein mālūm rakhiye awwal yeh keh es jagha tarjum lafz ba lafz zarāri
nahein, kyān ke tarkeeb hindi arbi se bahut ba-ied hai"
[now remember a few things. First this, that translation word for word is not
necessary because the syntax/grammar of Hindi is far more difficult than that of
Arabic.]
Hindu religious work, Maha Bharat, in Persian, was also translated in
Hyderabad Sind in Pakistan. There is a prayer piece written by Mool Ram about
1780. A few sentences are copied here. Current forms are given in parentheses: “Jabe
208. J. Jalibi (Vol. II), pp. 1025–1073.

209. J. Jalibi (Vol. II), pp. 1082–1092.
193
pandon aur kairon mahabhartiya judh (yudh) korokhetar (kuruksetra) kon (ko) chaley
tab rāja dhirāst kaho (kaha) hon (mein) judh (yudh) ka kartak dekhan kon (ko) chalon
hon, jab yeh bāt dhirāst kahi tab tusk on sri biyas kahiyu jo hi raja netra nahein netra
bina kya dekhein ga.”
[When Pandu and Kauru started Krukshetra for the war of Mahabharata, their
king Dhrishast said, “I want to go and watch war action. When Dhrishast said this
Shri Biyas Ji said, “What a King with no eyes to watch.”]
As a translation from the Persian, the author had to exclude Persian-Arabic
words. The style is Sindhi and Brij dialect, the street language of the 18th century.
8.9.2 Secular Prose
Again in the South, there was the secular work of Mulla Wajhi (1639), titled
Sab ras (all juicy stuff, or all writing). He had composed a story consisting of fun,
love, mystery, war and peace, morality, and rules and regulations, with poetic inter-
ruptions. It’s an introduction representing a sample of 17th century prose from South
India. Current forms are given in parentheses:
“āj lagan koi is jahān mein Hindustan mein, hindi zabān mein es latafat es
chandan son (ko) nazm hor (aur) nasr milakar gala kar yun nein (nahein) boliya (bola)
es bāt koi (ko), es nabāt kon (ko) yun koi āb hayāt nein (nahein) gholia (ghol raha)
yun ghaib ka ilm nein (nahein) kholia (khol raha)”
[I felt that in India and the world nobody in Hindi language has this humorous
composition, mixture of prose and poetry. It is not being mixed with elixir of life or
uncovering of an occult scene.]
Qissa Meher Afroz va Dilbar (Story of Meher Afroz and Dilbar) is also of a
similar type — prince, princess, love, magic, magical ring, demons, etc. This one is
from the North and written by one Eeswi Khan Bahadur, a teacher of princes in the
royal court of Mohammed Shah (1719–1748). Eeswi Khan also wrote Ras Chardrika
(1752). According to Prof. Jalibi, his language, regarded by modern Hindi scholars as
“Hindi,” is in Brij and Khari dialect, with 10% Arabic-Persian. Eeswi Khan, in the
following piece, describes a bunch of girls in a garden:
“āpas mein khel ten hain, koi ko tāliān de de kar daurti hain, koi chip rahti hai,
koi usey dondti phirti hai, koi āpas mein khari hansti hai, koi bāgh ki hi sair karti hai”
[They are playing together, some are clapping and running, one is hiding and
another is trying to find her, some are standing together and laughing, one is strolling
in the garden.]
Insha Ullah Khan (1752–1817) is famous for his Rani Ketki and Kuwar Uday
Bhan Ki Kahani210 (Story of Prince Uday and Princess Ketki) is also regarded by the
“Hindi enthusiast” as theirs, but Insha, son of a Kashmiri physician who served
around Bengal, Delhi, and Lucknow, deliberately created a 50-page long story free
from Persian-Urdu. Its introduction is characteristic of 18th century language:
“aek din baithey, baithey yeh bāt apney dhiyān mein charh āiee keh koi kahāni
ai-si kahiyey jis mein hidiwi chat aur kisi boli se pat na miley…baher ki boli aur
210. H. H. Qadri pp. 167–168.
194
ganwari kuch us ki beech na ho. Aek koi parhey likhey…kahney lagey, yeh bāt hoti
dikhāi nahein deti”
[one day sitting around, it came to my mind that a story be written which does
not resemble Hindiwi and which has nothing of a foreign language in it. An educated
person said, “this doesn’t seem possible.”]
Insha initiated the story with the following simple couplet expressing his
intention.
“ghorey par apney charh ke āta hon mein
kartab jo hein so sab dikhāta hon mein”
[I come, riding my horse
And show all the skills I have]
Insha’s work belongs to a phase when “Aryanism” was a popular theory and
Arabic-Persian was regarded as foreign. This is apparent in his own reaction.
Besides the simpler variety of prose, some other types are loaded with Arabic-
Persian words. Nau Tarz Murasaā is the story of four dervishes of Mirs Hasan
Tahseen of Etawah, U.P. In Oudh, Munshi Meher Chand Khatri (1768) wrote simpler
stories: Nau Aien Hindi. Shah Alam (1765–1805), the Moghul King and scholar of
Persian, Urdu, and SKT, while living at Allahabad, wrote Ajaāib-ul-Qasas (Won-
derful Stories),211 a large volume of fiction. Meanwhile, Hātim, a poet, also wrote
some prose in contemporary language; these focused on satire and humor.
As the prose kept its slow and steady growth, Persian maintained its position,
but a large number of mixed or hybrid phrases or idioms had come into usage. Below
is a sample extracted from Dr. Jalibi’s work:
Urdu/Hindi English Equivalent
Âqal ka andha Blind by mind or stupid

Ânkhon par parda Not seeing reality
Ahed torna Breaking promise
Khoon bahâna Murder
Nazar rakhna Keep under surveillance
Dil pherna Change of heart
Hāth khula hona Extravagant
Qadam ba qadam chalna To follow exactly
Zameen tang hona Earth shrinking (time to die)
Âsmân phat parna Profound disaster/tragedy
8.10 ADVENT OF LINGUISTIC SEPARATISM
It seems ironic that a hybrid-secular language boosted by anti-foreign (Persian)

reaction fell victim to Aryanism-Indo-Euro-centrism. The late Moghul phase, the
211. J. Jalibi (Vol. II), pp. 1112–1122.
195
1800s, is also the phase of Indo-Euro racism of Shlegel and Voltaire (Chapter I). It is
amazing though how politics can change the human social groups so rapidly. Within
fifty years or so, just one or two generation-old descendants of the same Delhi poets/
scholars, leaders, especially Muslims would become allergic to the term “Hindi” as
indicative of Hindu fanaticism though their own translated Qur’an was called “Hindi
translation;” and Hindus would become allergic to the term “Urdu,” implying painful
memories of “foreign slavery of 1000 years” embracing “the real foreigners” as
ethnic liberator-cousins. These perspectives on the Urdu/Hindi story are most
exciting and unfold in the next chapter.
The most brilliant phase in Urdu’s evolution was during the later half of the
Moghul Empire in the 18th century. This period produced master poets like Mir,
Sauda, satirist Zatli-Hatim, and Nazir, prose writers Wajhi, Tahseen, Rafiuddin, Fazli,
Maher Chand. The synthetic hybrid Urdu and the hybrid Indian culture, had included
Indians, Hindus, and Muslims as its propagators, users, and composers. The next
phase of its evolution maintains the momentum under an alien linguistic group, the
Englishmen, who took Urdu to its new heights but at a cost, namely, the break-up of
the language and the country into two by “splitting the Indian-ness into Hindu-
Muslim nationalities.”
196
CHAPTER IX. URDU: OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF BRITISH
INDIA
9.0 INTRODUCTION
The British phase, or more correctly the Indo-European or Aryanism phase, of

Urdu’s evolution is significant as it founded the science of linguistics and also propa-
gated divisions based on religious and/or racio-political idioms (Chapters 1 and 2),
leading to the biggest religious gulf in the history, i.e., Hindu vs Muslim, after Chris-
tianity vs Islam. Religious and/or racial dogmas, as mentioned before, are powerful
hurdles against the scientific comprehension of Urdu/Hindi; and we must stay
focused on the difference between the two: (1) Religion and (2) Language/Culture;
the latter is a grass root-natural product of evolution based on geography, ie., Indian,
Arab, Chinese etc., while religion (s) is distinctly a user or exploiter of language for
its propagation and rituals. Language-Culture is integrative, dynamic, and holistic,
while religions are generally divisive and divisible into sects.
India, by the Moghul period, had evolved a composite cultural entity, called
“HINDUSTANIAT,” or “Indianness, and was administered by Persian substituted by
Urdu later. The British and other Europeans had started to contribute toward the
resurgent Urdu in the 18th century, especially after Nadir Shah’s invasion. One should
however not forget that their mission was purely for profit/politics and not the noble
academic pursuit to establish linguistic science and/or to rediscover their lost “Aryan
brothers” and/or save them from oppressing Muslim rulers and/or to protect the
Muslim minority or even to spread Christianity. All these issues were simply stages
or pretext for revenue streams one way or the other. Whatever steps they took, e.g.,
the creation of IE language family, the adoption of Urdu, and cleaving Hindi out of
Urdu, were political decisions in their self-interest.
197
9.1 LINGUISTIC DEVICES
The development of Urdu prose for administration and education, its adoption
as the official language (1835), and its succession over centuries-old Persian (1858)
were major developments. The British who, for their political survival, in Bengal
changed its’ Bengali language; replaced its APS by the “Aryan/Hindu” script and
Arabic/Persian vocabulary by newly created words from SKT, calling it “Hindu
Bengali,” a rival of existing “Muslim’s Bengali.” This was a transparent device to
appease and draft highly educated Bengali Hindus in the EIC administration of
Bengal in preference to perceived adversarial Muslim majority; this ensured them
100 years of peace (1757-1857). The other linguistic device also in Bengal was to ini-
tiate a parallel process of script and vocabulary exchange in Urdu and label it
“Aryan’s or Hindu’s Hindi,” for a later use in North India (after 1857) against Urdu.
Details of the evolution of Urdu prose, a major part of this chapter, will follow after a
short review of the Europeans’ career in India. The evolution of the “new Hindi” is
the main focus of the next chapter.
9.2 THE EUROPEANS’ LOVE OF INDIA
Europe’s adventure to discover India would outflank and defeat the Muslim
Ottomans, and capture the lucrative maritime trade. Following the Portuguese, and
Dutch, French and British also had established colonies along the coastlines. Of
these, the French in the 18th century became a dominant power in the South. Duplex-
Dumas had achieved a recognized status from the Mogul king as Nawab/Governor of
Karnataka. And India was recognized as the “cradle of civilization” as mentioned in
chapter II, and reviewed by Halbfas.212 SKT grammar was formulated by the French
as early as 1620-1680 and written down in 1733. Syncretic Veda, or Ezour Vedam,
became famous as a rediscovery by Nobili to entice and cultivate Hindus. An early
convert, Maridas Poulle (Mariyadas Pillai b. 1721) translated the Tamil version of
Bhagwat purnana into Latin and French. G. L. Coeurdoux floated the idea that Aryan-
SKT had risen from the seventh son of Japheth, the son of Noah who had migrated to
Europe, other sons having fathered Latin, Greek, etc. Naturally, these ideas213 had
charmed some Hindu elites; they were enthralled by the white man’s acceptance of
the motherhood of SKT, and India as the original home of human civilization. These
powerful ideas had reassured the Hindus of their religious myth, and also a new status
in world affairs. This in fact turned out to be the “silver bullet” which cracked “Indi-
anness” and inaugurated the anti-Muslim Hindu nationalism and the new term for the
Whiteman as “cousins” and the Muslims, “foreigners.” The French Indophilism, after
1800, had taken another name, “Aryan, or Indo-European” brotherhood or Linguistic/
race family.
212. W. Halbfas (1988), pp. 42-43.

213. Tarachand (1992) (Vol. I), p. 209.
198
Chapter IX. Urdu: Official Language of British India
9.3 SURGING BRITISH PHASE
The French withdrawal after the Anglo-French treaty paved the way for the
British EIC; Lord Clive took over Bengal (1757) as financial agent of the weakened
Moghul king. And in about a hundred years Bengal, a Muslim majority state had
become an Aryan Hindu state, a British-Bengali (Hindu) cooperative. But the British
recognized and tolerated regional variations elsewhere—Punjab and Kashmir under
Sikhs with a Muslim majority (until the 1840s); Oudh/Lucknow in North/Central
India, a designated Shia Muslim state with a Hindu majority (~75%); and Hyderabad,
with approximately 75% Hindus under a Muslim nizam, or governor, in the South. In
Moghul days, these combinations, Hindu ruler over Muslim and vice versa, had
hardly mattered as they were, a part of Moghul India, a secular state run by (Hindu/
Muslim) civil servants/governors and a mixed army. But for the British these combi-
nations had meant political opportunities.
The success of the British in India was deeply rooted in being useful trade
partners, serving as Moghul’s maritime agents as exporters, responsible for legendary
trade surpluses with the West. For example, in 1748, according to Prof. Tarachand,
exports to England amounted to 1,000,000, while imports amounted to 127,000. But
in the altered situation in 19th century Bengal, through several political changes dis-
guised as land reform, closing of the school system, bribes, outright looting, and
increased imports, the British had created a large-scale unemployment and poverty.
The support for the Hindu minority had turned the Muslim majority of Bengal into
“an insecure group of have-nots,” an unstable combination which, according to Mr.
Nehru, had a direct linkage214 with future Hindu-Muslim strife. Bengali Hindus, a
highly educated group by discarding Persian and its script had, rendered themselves
handicapped for jobs outside Bengal, where Persian and/or Urdu had prevailed all
through the 19th century. With respect to trade215 India had been turned into a captive
market, and British really made some fabulous gains quite early in India. In one
estimate, after 1757, in about 50 years, 1000 million pounds were transferred into
British banks from India. It only made sense to sustain such profit somehow.
9.4 ARYANISM’S BIRTH – THE IE FAMILY
The rise of Aryanism and the birth of IE family seemed to serve the economic
interests (of the British) as well as a potential strategy against the Ottomans, a real
master stroke of a lawyer, Sir William Jones. It can easily be understood from recog-
nizing the global strategy around 1800 and chronic confrontation between the Muslim
Ottoman (Sunni) Empire and western Christian nations (England, Germany, and
France, etc.), attempting to forge a military alliance inclusive of Moghul India. Three
issues stood in the way; 1) Moghuls were also Sunni Muslim Turks ruling a Hindu
majority (~75%), the largest ethnic group (next to the Chinese) and larger than all
214. J. L. Nehru (1997), p. 304.

215. Tarachand (1992), pp. 332-334.
199
Turks and Arabs put together; 2) Hindus were not free agents for the potential
alliance; and 3) the British EIC of Calcutta was also not yet an independent entity; it
was a Mughuls’ subordinate until 1858 (post mutiny).
The foundation of IE family based on just language and race was seemingly
non-political and this could never alarm Arab, Turkish, and Indian Muslims, while an
alliance of Hindus and Christians against Muslims could challenge pan-Islamists
including Persian (Aryan) Shia Muslims. Thus, the initiation of the IE-Aryan family,
pending dissolution of Moghuls (1858) and freedom of Hindus could be the best tem-
poral option. Hindu-Aryans were already charmed and motivated by the French thesis
of India and SKT.
The initial IE family draft of Sir William thus reveals the anti-Ottoman cre-
dential of each. Besides Latin, Gothic, and Celtic — which gave rise to English,
French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Greek — all the languages of the ex-Crusaders
were included. Persians, though Muslim, had also hated Turkey. Hindu Aryans
(SKT), though powerless, were getting aroused against Muslims.
As the century rolled and confrontation progressed, the IE family, like a
modern NATO, also grew like NATO of 2003-2004, under an academic mask. To get
in, a language needed to show some “IE features” and the evidence was neither chal-
lenged nor peer-reviewed. Two made a quick draft: Albanians (Sunni Muslim) and
Armenian (Christian), both anti-Turk. The Slovak family was taken much later
because some members, like Serbs and Bosnians, were considered Ottoman collabo-
rators; the Hungarians were also excluded for the same reason.
The IE family did really look like a western military alliance before WWI,
though the Germans walked away, which itself shows it was political. This strategic
perspective, as elaborated, represents this author’s hypothesis and can only be con-
firmed through further research. But there is no other reason for separating the Celtic
and Armenian (agglutinating types) from Turkish, Hungarian and DR.
9.5 COMMUNALISM; DIVIDE AND RULE
The net vector from Aryanism and IE linguistic theory was Hindu-Muslim
hatred and polemic “Communalism,” seeded in Bengal, which provided comfortable
(100 years) space for the British, especially in Bengal. British perhaps hoped and had
depended on the continuation of Moghul culture or status quo even after integration
and the dissolution of Sikh Punjab (1849). But the failed mutiny (1857) changed their
policy; selective retribution to Muslims following the mutiny initiated the divisive
policy also in the North, driven later on by the linguistic Genii (Hindi) from Calcutta
confronting Urdu.
As we begin to review the evolution of Urdu prose, before and after mutiny,
the role of Syed Ahmad Khan stands out as fundamental. Syed Ahmad Khan, a
British judicial officer who had tremendous moral and political influence over the
British, had blamed the British explicitly for the mutiny, citing lack of public partici-
pation in government and the aggressiveness of Christian missionaries. British policy
did change as a result even in Bengal when an investigation, the Hunter Commission,
200
exposed 216 the pathetic conditions of Muslims. In Bengal, where they were a
majority, they had less than 5% of government jobs, were poor and politically restive.
While in the North, U.P. and Punjab, they had much better representation. The
follow-up policy included the creation of the Indian National Congress (INC), a
King’s party to appease the English-educated underemployed, mainly Hindu Ben-
galis, the division of Bengal, and the creation of the Muslim League (ML), another
King’s party, leading to partition. Urdu language prospered though, dominating the
cultural life and show business and had the status of being the first national language
of India.
9.6 LANGUAGE OF EMPIRE – URDU
Urdu’s first documentation as the commonest language of the British Empire

appeared with the first census (1871). India, almost ten times larger than England
(population of 32 million), had about half of its citizens (population 256 million)
using Urdu, which was the least expensive for the profit-oriented EIC. English was
the most expensive and needed decades of propagation and manpower, an impossible
task, and its use remained minimal. As late as 1911, only about 0.5% of Indians were
literate in English, with an overall literacy rate of 7%.217 Urdu’s development was
accomplished before the mutiny, especially at Delhi College and Fort William
College, Calcutta. Support for Urdu was well publicized when Queen Victoria hired a
home tutor from Agra to learn Urdu. Munshi Abdul Karim218 lived in the palace as
the royal tutor and taught Urdu to royalty. But Urdu until 1800 had no effective
administrative prose.
9.7 PROSE DEVELOPMENT
In order to replace Persian, massive translation work at Fort William College,

Delhi College, and Agra Colleges were necessary as was the contribution of Syed
Ahmad Khan through his Scientific Society and its numerous publications. Letters
written by Ghalib around 1857-58 reveal useful samples of informal prose, as we will
see. Post-mutiny expansion of education with development of major colleges and uni-
versities at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Lahore, and Allahabad had revolutionized
Urdu, both as a medium and as a subject in itself. Newspapers, media-telegraphs,
railway, commercial, notices, and plays, all using Urdu, drove its progress to the
extreme. We will review these relevant issues and resources.
216. David Lilyveld (1996), pp. 10-12.

217. David Ludden (2002), p. 162.
218. Salim Akhtar (2000), p. 251.
201
9.7.1 Fort William College (FWC)
In Calcutta there was some beginning to learn Urdu, or Hindustani, the term
preferred by Europeans. An oriental seminary in 1799 taught some Urdu to incoming
EIC officers who learned Persian. But the need to learn Urdu became foremost for
collection of revenue; the official mandate of EIC. Governor-General Lord Wellesley
inaugurated FWC on May 4th 1800, mainly for learning local language and culture by
an ever-growing army of British civil servants. FWC had all the departments, a syl-
labus, examination system under its first principal, Prof. David Brown, and its
department of Hindustani/Urdu was, perhaps, the most important department under
its first chairman, Dr. Gilchrist. The college had its own press and publication
division. Calcutta and FWC became the destination of numerous writers, who pro-
duced hundreds of books mainly in Urdu. Some work in Nagari, Hindi, Gurmukhi,
and Bengali was also initiated. Writers such as Mir Amman, Mir Ali Afsos, Nihal
Chand Lahori, and Beni Narain Jahan created classics in Urdu prose for posterity;
Lallu Lal Ji did the same in DNS.
Bengal, or Calcutta, thus stands out as a significant nucleus of Urdu, along with
Delhi, Lucknow, and Lahore. The writers and teachers at FWC, having such titles as
Munshi, etc., were fairly well paid and also rewarded for excellence. Their accom-
plishments are large and reviewed by many scholars, such as Qadri, Salim Akhtar,
Saxena, and Sami Ullah. A table (table IX-1) of their accomplishment provides us
with some insight. Virtually all these authors from northern cities, Lahore, Delhi,
Lucknow, etc., had endured hardships in travel as there were no railways. FWC was
closed in 1854, as other centers of learning had already appeared. FWC is also
credited with the creation of Urdu’s rival, “Hindi,” for Hindus, to be discussed in the
following chapter.
9.7.2 Professors at FWC
Dr. John Gilchrist, the first chairman of Urdu, or Hindi, is the foremost among
others such as Taylor, Roebuck, Gladdon, Roedell, Price, and Hunter. All of them
taught, contributed, and supervised, according to a detailed review by Dr. Sami
Ullah219 in his doctoral thesis at Banaras Hindu University, India.
Dr. John Gilchrist (1759-1841), a physician, born at Edinburgh, was an adven-
turous young man who had landed a job of an assistant surgeon with EIC at Surat,
near Bombay. According to his notes, he became interested in the “language of
Moors,” so-called because of Urdu’s script and Arabic linkage with Moorish Spain.
He learned Urdu by available books, while traveling through Lucknow, Faizabad, and
Allahabad, and had become conversant in Hindustani and Persian. Dr. Gilchrist had
already completed his famous English-Hindustani Dictionary and Grammar, a major
work, before taking his job at FWC. Numerous works followed in a short span of four
years at FWC. In London, he continued to teach until 1825 and died in Paris in 1841.
219. Sami Ullah (1988), pp. 94-117.
202
Honored by the University of Edinburgh (1805) with an L.L.D., Dr. Gilchrist has
been called “the father of Urdu prose” by some scholars.
His works include some nineteen books and journals, according to Dr. Sami
Ullah. His most notable, The Grammar of Hindustani, has been published several
times, and recently by the University of Pennsylvania; it is a classic. Other important
works of Dr. Gilchrist include a translation of Kalidas’s Shakutala, the Hindi moral
preceptor, a translation from a Persian poet, Saadi, and English-Urdu, a conversation
handbook.
Dr. William Hunter (1755-1812), secretary of The Royal Asiatic Society, and
FWC Council, and a physician, he had worked as an Assistant Professor of Urdu and
had founded Urdu Press along with his friend, Dr. Gilchrist. He is credited with
several publications.
Thomas Roebuck joined FWC in 1819 and died as a young man at Calcutta. In
just three years, Roebuck had published twelve books, including a medical dictionary
in Urdu and a dictionary of Islamic laws.
Francis Gladdon, also focused on Bengali-Persian translation besides urdu.
William Taylor (1808-1823) and William Price (1813-1821), were lovers of SKT, and
203
famous (or infamous) for starting “Hindi” for Hindus; their work is part of the next
chapter.
9.7.3 FWC – Authors and Publications
As many as forty-eight Indian teachers/translators, according to Dr. Sami

Ullah,220 had produced some 150 plus manuscripts, of which 100 were published
including 76 in Urdu, 17 in DNS, and a few in Gurmukhi (Punjabi) and Bengali.
Some other manuscripts, mainly in Urdu, were published later on. FWC, in fact, pro-
duced a massive volume of literature translated from Persian, Arabic, and SKT orig-
inals in a short time and supplemented the ongoing work elsewhere. A sample of 26
in Urdu and 13 in DNS in the table 9.1 reveals a broad variety of topics and, authors
including the most famous two, Mir Amman and Lallu Lal Ji. Others include
Muslims with skills in both scripts. Some of them are regarded as the founders of
Urdu and Hindi prose.
Mir Amman (1726-?)
In Bagh-o-Bahar (Garden and Spring), a simple translation of Chahar
Durwesh (Four fakirs), Mir Amman’s language has the same free flow as found in
Insha’s work. Bagh-o-Bahar, in contemporary idiom, reveals the culture, costume,
class, mannerisms, etc, and has been printed in almost every important language of
the north, India; the following example reveals its simplicity and conversational style.
“Terey āney sey mera kaleja thanda huwa,

jab tujhey dekhti hun bagh bagh hojati hun.”
[translation: From your arrival now I am at peace; whenever I look at you I feel
extremely happy.]
Not much is known about his life. He was born about 1726 and moved to Patna
before spending four years at FWC and retired either at Calcutta or Patna. He was
rewarded five hundred rupees for Bagh-o-Bahar. His work in Nagari script (table IX-
1) Gunj Khubi (Collection of Virtues) is a translation from Persian Akhlaq Mohsini.
Mir Amman’s following description about himself reveals his simplicity:
“Na kiso ka ustad” (No one’s teacher)

“Na kiso ka sagird” (No one’s student)
Syed Haider Baksh Haidri (1768-1823)

Haidri belonged to a Delhi family and settled in Varanasi, in U.P. A poet and
prose writer, he proved to be the most productive among his peers, with a skill in both
scripts. Among his ten books, The Story of Laila Majnun and Hatim-tai (two Arabic
classics) and Araish Mahal, are the best known. The first is a love story between
“Laila,” the heroine, and Majnun, (meaning mad or crazy), the hero. The second is
220. Sami Ullah (1988), pp. 83-95.
204
about the legendary “charitable” person, Hatim. The third one is a remake of Fazli’s,
Karbal Katha, discussed in the previous chapter.
Mir Kazimali Jawan (d. 1816)
Mir Kazimali Jawan was another Delhiite who settled at Lucknow. Jawan
translated Kalidas’s Shakuntala from Brij-bhasa and also the Quran in simple Urdu;
His Singhasan Battisi, a collection of thirty-two short stories, is also from Brij-bhasa.
Among others, his translation of Farishta’s History of India from Persian is another
important work.
Lallu Lal Ji (1762-1823)
Lallu Lal Ji, though appointed to work on Nagari, had skills in Persian like
many others. Lallu Lal Ji was a Gujrati Brahmina and had lived at Agra. His claim to
fame is Prem Sagar, in Khari boli, and The Grammar of Brij-bhasa, in Urdu script,
published in 1811. Lataef Hindi in Urdu and Nagari consists of about one hundred
stories, or vignettes, of wisdom and morals, with wit and humor.
Lallu Lal Ji had essentially adopted the “Khari boli style” of contemporary
Urdu and tried to replace hardcore Persian-Arabic words by SKT. Some Hindi
scholars consider his work to be just Urdu in Nagari script.221
Several others who need to be mentioned include the following: Nihal Chand
Lahori, for Mazhab-e-Ishq and a translation of Indian folklore in Persian script,
entitled Gul-baka-wali. Mazher Ali Khan Vala is famous for Betal Paccisi (Twenty-
five ill-timed stories), narrated by ghosts. Beni Narain Jahan is famous for Diwane
Jahan, a description of more than a hundred poets, and Car Gulsan (Four Gardens), a
love story. Mir Bahadur Husaini achieved his fame from Nasr-be-nazir (Unique
Prose), a translation of Masnavi’s Seher-ul-bayan. Amanat Ullah Saida simplified
Urdu’s grammar and syntax and also accomplished some translations, such as
Hidayet-al-Islam (Guidance from Islam) from his own Arabic work. Sudal Mishr,
writing in Nagari and Urdu, derived his fame from Chandrawati, a translation from
SKT and a simpler version of Ramayan, Ram Carit. Of course, there are many others.
9.8 DELHI COLLEGE (DC)
DC, established 1825, initiated modern public education in the North by an act
of parliament establishing a General Committee for Public Instruction (GCPI) under
G.H. Taylor as the secretary/principal in the premises of Madrassah Ghazi Uddin
Khan with a fat endowment of Rs. 170,000 from Mir Fazal Ali Khan of Oudh.
According to Sami Ullah,222 DC received a further boost from the later educational
reform (1834) of Lord Macauley, credited for the advent of English medium edu-
cation.
DC, with its mission to establish modern scientific secular education with Urdu
as a medium, was destroyed in the Mutiny, in which its principal, Mr. Taylor, was
killed. 223 It re-opened in 1864 but merged later (1877) into Punjab University,
221. Mohammed Hasan (1993), p. 144.

222. Ullah Sami (1988), p. 181.
205
Lahore. The campus revived in 1884 and grew into a post-graduate college (1947). It
was renamed Zakir Husain College in 1948 after the well-known educator and former
President of India.
9.8.1 Urdu’s Evolution at Delhi College
Two sections, English and Urdu, ran a parallel course in all subjects, including
sciences and mathematics, which needed massive translation work through a separate
translation society that generated hundreds of books in Urdu. DC was secular and
open to all. A series of first-rate principals, Dr. Springer, Bothro, and Kargil, super-
vised DC, producing alumni like Ramchand, Zakaullah, and Nazeer Ahmad, who
transformed the Urdu language completely. Principal Bothro made an objective
assessment of DC in a letter to a French scholar, Garcin de Tasi, on December 19,
1841.224 In brief, it described the two media English and Urdu for instruction, of
modern European science, languages, Arabic, Persian, and SKT, and a total of 20
teachers. Regarding Urdu, it stated that the language was used as a mother tongue by
at least 40 million and had expanded as the official language all over, with news-
papers and magazines in Urdu. It also mentioned active translation work in all sub-
jects, history, law, logic, philosophy, economics, and physics, etc., from European
books.
In a short span of thirty years or so, before the Mutiny, the Urdu language had
become a syllabus and school-worthy medium in all branches. Dr. Sami Ullah has
listed a total of 115 books,225 written or translated, excluding those on religion, the-
ology, and literature totaling 27. We find 16 on mathematics, including, algebra,
mechanics, statistics and dynamics, and geometry; 15 on sciences, including
anatomy, physics, chemistry, electricity, magnetism, heat and light, etc; 5 on medical
sciences, including surgery, hygiene, and medicine. There are significant numbers of
books on history and political science and law, in addition to those on agricultural
science.
9.8.2 Some Faculty of DC
Dr. A. Springer: A German physician, Dr. Springer worked as an assistant

surgeon at Calcutta and later became the principal of DC in 1845. He wrote many
books and started a magazine and weekly newspaper. One of his well-known contri-
butions is Oudh Catalogue, a list of more than a thousand published books on varying
subjects in Oudh libraries.
Maulana Suhbai (1804-1857) was one of the academic stars of Delhi. Highly
accomplished in Persian and Urdu grammars, he wrote many books. He was killed by
Britishers during the Mutiny.
Haider Singh was a young man who taught English and wrote books in
geometry and mathematics. Radha Krishin taught English. Moulvi Subhan Bux,
223. Ibid. p. 205.

224. Ibid. p. 217.
225. Ibid. pp. 225-274.
206
Hasan Ali Khan, Mir Ashraf Ali, Pandit Ram Krishin, and Joseph Taylor were other
important faculty members, all of whom participated in teaching and translations.
9.8.3 Delhi Alumni’s Boost to Urdu
Delhi College had represented the best face of composite secular culture with
an additional strand of Europeanism and Christianity. Besides the integrated faculty,
the College had a mixed enrollment. For example, in 1841-42 academic year, among
326 students, there were 65% Hindus, 32% Muslim, and 3% Christians. Alumni by
the thousands had disseminated the secular culture through the medium of Urdu Lan-
guage. Several prominent ones like Master Ram Chandra, Piyarey Lal a-Shub, Azad,
Zaka Ullah, Nazir Ahmad, and Pandit Dharam Narain became highly distinguished
and contributed towards Urdu’s surging growth, serving as seedling for Allahabad,
Punjab, Aligarh and other universities. The phenomena seemed to duplicate the
events of the previous century when Delhi’s poets and politicians had propagated its
culture in Lucknow and elsewhere. Delhi’s alumni in fact repeated the history, as we
will see in the following examples.
Master Ram Chand Mathur (1821-1881) graduated with honors, taught science
and math in Urdu, and later served as the principal of Engineering College, Roorkee
(1858), and director of Education of Patiala (1870). Ram Chand had written as many
as 15 books on science, math, and other subjects in Urdu.
Moulvi Zaka Ullah’s (1832-1910) name will live on, perhaps, as the most pro-
lific writer, of books, numbering a staggering total of 143,226 on almost every subject,
including 87 on math, 18 on history and geography, and 16 in literature. He was really
an academic giant of his time and wrote for periodicals published from almost every
city, Lahore, Calcutta, Kanpur, Aligarh, etc. In 1869, Zaka joined as a professor at
Muir Central College, the nucleus of Allahabad University. He was a member of Syed
Ahmad Khan’s Scientific Society and had also served as a secretary of Delhi Society.
Numerous awards and titles, such as Khan Bahadur, (exalted brave chief) and Sams-
ul-ulma (sun among scholars) came to Zaka Ullah in due course.
Maulana Mohammed Hasan Azad, another star and a classmate of Zaka Ullah
was also awarded the title of “Sams-ul-ulma.” Azad was a poet, writer, a humanist,
humorist, educator, and a leader. He has been regarded as the best “essay/compo-
sition” writer of Urdu. His book, Āb-e-Hayat (Elixir of Life), referred to in an earlier
chapter, has served as the model for later historians of Urdu. His prose is sweet, melo-
dious, connected, simple, straight, focused, and fun for a reader.
He was born in an academic environment. His father, Mr. Baqui, was the
pioneer of the first newspaper, Delhi Urdu Akhbar (1823). Azad had a literary base,
which was augmented and supplemented by the Royal Urdu poet, Zauq. His father’s
political inclination, arrest, and execution after the Mutiny shocked Azad. His center
of activity then shifted to Lahore Government College and Punjab University (1884-
226. Ibid. pp. 258-302.
207
1890). Besides 27 books on history, literature, and poetry, Azad is famous for
founding Anjuman-e-Punjab (Society of Punjab) for the promotion of Urdu.
Piyarey Lal -a-Shub (1838-?) was born in the politically visible family of Raja
Todar Mal, King Akbar’s finance minister. He also moved to Lahore and joined Azad
in the promotion of Urdu’s growth. Along with his teaching position as a curator of
Lahore Book Depot, Ashub edited Ataleeq, a Lahore daily. He was titled “Rai
Bahadur” and named a fellow of Punjab University. Ashub published several books,
mainly on history.
Deputy Nazir Ahmad (1831-1912) a highly academic man, is famous by the
name deputy, since he retired as a Deputy Collector or a revenue officer (in Urdu,
dipti). Nazir Ahmad is considered a pioneer of novels in Urdu Literature. After grad-
uating from Delhi College, Nazir Ahmad served in the education department as a
teacher and inspector in Allahabad and Kanpur. Apart from several novels, his 23
books are religious titles. His famous Tobatun Nasuh, a classic, is considered the first
Urdu novel. He also received the title of “Shams-ul-Ulema” and honorary degrees of
L.L.D. from Punjab and Edinburgh Universities and was deeply involved with Syed
Ahmad Khan’s movements and Aligarh College.
9.9 SURGING URDU PROSE
There are many more who contributed significantly. Moulvi Karimuddin had
published extensively on history, humanities, philosophy, and grammar. Besides his
thirty books, Karimuddin established a press and conducted mushairas every two
weeks. Munshi Shiv Narain and Pundit Swarup Narain published several books and
also co-authored books on history, geography, and physics in Urdu. Others include
Motilal Delhvi, Hukum Chand, Pandit Dharam Narain, and Sheikh Ziauddin. Despite
their visible careers, they contributed in writing and/or translation work. As the
alumni of Delhi College built the nucleus of Urdu in Punjab and U.P., then called
North-West Province (NWP) and Oudh, they also founded many associations and
societies. A famous one is the Scientific Society of Syed Ahmad Khan. The post-
Mutiny phase of Urdu’s development saw enormous expansion in general education,
the opening of universities and professional colleges, including a medical school at
Agra and Engineering College at Roorkee. Delhi had, by then, produced textbooks in
sciences, including biological sciences in Urdu, which eventually had become a
medium of instruction at Roorkee and Agra. All this exciting work on Urdu, with a
major input from even Bengal, had its utility mainly in the North, U.P., Punjab, and
also in the South. In Bengal, a new Bengali, with “communal” overtones had arisen
for school instruction and administration. Urdu had retained some importance though.
In addition to FWC, DC, other major contributors include poets and scholars, such as
Hali, Shibli, Chirag Ali, Sharshar, Ghalib, and Sarwar etc.
9.9.1 Ghalib and Urdu Prose (1797-1869)
The name of Asad ullah Khan Ghalib is famous for Urdu poetry; but his Urdu
is also a good example of correspondence and contemporary prose. Besides the
208
letters, he had written some books and commentaries which reveal Delhi’s “language
of conversation and informal business.” A sample of his prose pieces is reproduced
from Mr. Naqvi’s History of Urdu:227
“mian larke kahan phir rahey ho, a-ow baitho.”
[Translation: hey Sunny! Where are you running around? Come sit (here) ].
“Arey koi hai, zara Yusuf Mirza ko bula-iyo.”
[Translation: Is anyone around? Please call Yusuf Mirza.]
This only reveals that the language of conversation around Delhi and Western
U.P. has not much changed; one can still hear these phrases in daily life. Ghalib went
through poverty and the turbulence of the Mutiny and came to be recognized as a
“royal poet” by Moghul King, Bahadur Shah. Ghalib was a humorist, humanist,
atheist, satirist, wine bibber, gambler, scholar and a candidate for professorship at
Delhi College. Ghalib died in 1869 and is buried in Delhi.
9.10 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan/Scientific Society
Societies serving Urdu had multiplied especially after Mutiny. But the Scien-
tific Society of NW Province, or U.P., and based later on at Aligarh, barely 80 miles
southeast of Delhi, was unique. In essence, it was an extension of Delhi’s secular-sci-
entific culture evolved at Delhi College. The founder, Syed Ahmed Khan of Delhi,
brought together the best minds of north India—Hindus, Muslims, British, aca-
demics, civil servants, judicial officers, Rajas and Nawabs—under an organized
structure with a constitution, a budget, and parliamentary procedures run by office
bearers elected by members.
For about 22 years the Society focused on Western scientific education,
through the medium of Urdu. The Society, by law, was non-sectarian and prohibited
from publishing or generating any religious book. It did create scientific laboratories
and agricultural farms, organized lectures, demonstrated experiments, and maintained
a campus with an up-to-date library. Its mouthpiece was the periodical, Aligarh
Institute Gazette (AIG). Its proceedings, publications, books, and journals propelled
the Urdu Language towards greater heights and a newer status. The most significant
result of the Society and Syed Ahmed’s effort was a vigorous education movement,
resulting in the establishment of two major universities at Allahabad and Aligarh.
9.10.1 Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898)
He was born and raised in a respectable family that was linked to both the
Moghul court and the EIC. It was natural for Syed Ahmed to have absorbed the
secular social milieu of Delhi. After his privately acquired education he joined the
227. S. N. Naqvi (1997), p. 282.
209
local judiciary and rose through the ranks to become a judge in the cities of NWP, i.e.,
Ghazipur, Moradabad, Banaras, and Aligarh, etc. The Mutiny (1857) did impact him
but differently though. He suffered the loss of close relatives at the hands of the
British as well as significant loss of property. Syed Ahmed Khan kept his balance.
Risking his own life, he saved a significant number of British men, women, and
children in a dramatic way. This episode and his flat refusal to accept a fabulous land
reward to become some Raja/Nawab gained him tremendous prestige, moral power,
and unbound self-confidence, qualities necessary for a great leader. This is revealed
in his publication, Causes of Mutiny, which had pointedly blamed the government for
the denial of political rights to Indians, i.e., “Taxation without Representation.” This
in fact led to political reform through the formation of a viceroy council, to which he
himself was nominated.
At the core, he was a reformist, educator, and prolific writer, a potential he had
gained by working for his brother’s newspaper. Wherever he served, he always
achieved something significant, e.g., opening schools for both Hindus and Muslims at
Moradabad, Gazipur, etc. His first work, Asar-o-Sanadid228 (Glimpses of praise-
worthy monuments and scenes) (1847) focused on the history and life of Delhi from
the most ancient times to the present; this earned his entry into the Royal Asiatic
society. His Scientific Society, founded at Ghazipur (1864) and later shifted to
Aligarh, was geared to provide an academic base for a vernacular (Urdu) University.
But his vision changed in favor of English language.
Following his trip to England he opted for an Oxford/Cambridge model, a resi-
dential university in English medium, and founded the Muslim Anglo-Oriental
College (1875) at Aligarh with its first English principal, Mr. Beck. His son, Syed
Mahmud, an educationist and judge at Allahabad High Court, and Mr. Beck imple-
mented “their dream of Oxford” at the University of Allahabad (1887), of which
MAOC was a major affiliate. The university required fewer subjects (unlike Punjab
and Calcutta) and in-depth study and research.229 Syed Ahmed’s frequent trips to
Allahabad led him to build a home there named “Mahmud Manzil,” on 20 acres
allotted by Governor William Muir.230 The residence changed hands and later was
acquired by Motilal Nehru, who rebuilt and renamed it “Anand Bhavan” (House of
Pleasure), now a national monument.
Syed Ahmed attempted to keep North Indians, in general, and educationally
backward Muslims, in particular, focused on education and away from the agitational
politics of the Indian National Congress. His defense of Urdu as the language of
Hindus and Muslims had made him perhaps the most prominent political leader of
India in the 19th century. Some have attempted to smear him with a pro-Muslim bias.
But prominent British and Hindu contemporaries had noted his truthfulness and pre-
eminence. Mr. Nehru has wrapped up these sentiments in his book, The Discovery of
India.231
228. Syed Ahmad Khan (2000).

229. David Lelyveld (1996), pp. 231-233.
230. Uddin Nizam (1999), pp. 88-90.
231. J. L. Nehru, p. 345.
210
He [Sir Syed] was opposed to the National Congress not because he considered
it predominantly a Hindu organization; he opposed it because he thought it was
politically too aggressive and he wanted British help and cooperation. He was in no
way anti-Hindu or communally separatist.
9.10.2 MAOC or Scientific Society and Urdu’s Growth
The most significant contribution of the Society has been the translation of
leading western authors into Urdu. These include, for example, Harris’s Treatise on
Electricity; Burn’s Agriculture, James Mills’ Political Economy, John Phillips’
Geology; seventeen books on Mathematics (all by Zaka Ullah), and the history of
Greece, China, and Persia. The Society’s library by 1866 had contributed 18 period-
icals in English and twenty-six in Persian, SKT, Arabic, and Urdu. The Society was
funded by Rajas and Nawabs of Jodhpur, Jaipur, Rampur, Kapurthala, and Bhopal
and the British government, which allotted land and grants for construction of its
building. After Sir Syed’s transfer to Benaras, Raja Jai Kishendas became the Sec-
retary or director and was followed by Moulvi Sami Ullah Khan, Pandit Radha
Kishen and Zain-ul-Abdin. The Society was later absorbed into MAOC (1887),
another creature of the same Hindu-Muslim leaders of north; MAOC was non-sec-
tarian with 7 Hindu trustees out of 22, had mixed enrolment, and SKT was an initial
subject.
Sir Syed’s personality and MAO College had brought Aligarh to national
prominence. In fact after the Mutiny, Aligarh and Allahabad had replaced Delhi as the
secular intellectual capital of the North, rivaling Bengal’s Calcutta, which was
infested with religious communalism. Aligarh had gathered an army of scholars who
made massive contributions towards Urdu. Some like Syed Mahdi Ali and Mushtaq
Husain, better known as Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Viqar-ul Mulk, respectively,
were civil servants-turned-educators. This is more or less true for Moulvi Sami Ullah,
Moulvi Chirag Ali, Raja Jai Kishen Das, Maulana Waheed Uddin Salim, as the
founders of MAOC. Others made profound academic contribution towards Urdu lit-
erature both in prose and poetry.
Altaf Husain Hali (1837-1914)
A famous poet and disciple of Ghalib, Hali belongs to the highest fraternity of
Urdu scholars. His work on Persian poet Sadi, and his mentor/teacher, Ghalib, is
exemplary. His biography on Syed Ahmad Khan, Hayat Javed, thorough and ana-
lytical, is considered a classic. His critical work on Urdu poetry, the first of its kind,
Muqaddima Sair-o-Sa-eri,232 is a commentary on different styles of poetry, i.e.,
Ghazals, Marsias, etc. Hali’s prose style is simple, straight, and lacks exaggeration, a
confirmation of contemporary Delhi style.
Born in Panipat, near Delhi, Hali had become a disciple of Ghalib and later
joined the Lahore group, Azad and others, working as a teacher. Impressed and
inspired by Syed Ahmad, he composed the famous Musaddus, a poetic narrative on
the sad plight of Muslims.
232. Altaf Husain Hali (1998).
211
Hali received numerous rewards and finally the title of Sams-ul-Ulma. He was
a simple man, and always thankful to his benefactors. His diwan includes laudatory
poems on famous people like Ghalib and Sir Syed, and the lesser-known Syed
Maherban Ali,233 a wealthy landowner of Gulaothi (Dist. Buland Shaher, U.P.,) and
grandfather of this author’s spouse.
Maulana Shibli Nomani (1857-1914)
Maulana Shibli, poet and stalwart of Urdu, wrote biographies, travelogues, etc.
Shibli belonged to Eastern U.P., was educated with Arabic-Persian base, practiced as
a lawyer, worked in the judiciary, and finally ended up taking a professorship at
MAOC. He has written a lot with Islamic inspirational themes as well as secular
themes. But secular modernism and Anglophilisim were not very popular with him.
He founded an Arabic medium university, “Nadwa-tul-Ulma,” at Lucknow and, later,
an institution, “Dar-ul-Musannafeen,” (House of Writers) at Azamgarh, a major
resource for Urdu writers. His pan-Islamic perspectives earned him a medal from the
Ottomans (1882). His writings are clear, persuasive, quite modern, and inspirational
to the religiously oriented. Shibli was effective in opposing Hindi against Urdu after
Syed Ahmed.
9.10.3 Other (Non-MAOC) Scholars
Urdu fervor had certainly come of age as the language dominated adminis-
tration everywhere. Many people unaffiliated with MAOC also helped Urdu. About
16 of these authors, listed by Qadri,234 are mostly North Indian Hindus and Muslims,
and they covered diverse topics in a contemporary style. A few of them are quite well
known.
Niaz Ali Paresan
Niaz, a mediocre poet from Agra and a student of the famous poet, Hatinm
Baig Maher, derives his fame for organizing a grand mushaira at Agra on October 16,
1869, which was advertised in newspapers. He had sent out registration forms to get
the biographical sketch of each poet; his purpose was “to write a book which had con-
sisted of about 100 poems from Agra, and 14 from Allahabad and some from else-
where. He spelled out his prupose: “Do something challenging to become famous.”
As follows:
“Ab sun-iey aek roz ji ne chāha keh

Koi ai-sa kām keej-iey jis se nām bāqi rahey….”
[Translation: “Now, listen, one day I got an idea
to do a deed that would become a legacy.”]
He confessed his limitation as a mediocre poet and compiled an unprecedented

narrative on contemporary poets.
233. Rashid Hasan Khan (1999), pp. 219-225.

234. H. H. Qadri (1995), pp. 364-447.
212
Debi Parsad Saher Badayuni belonged to the Kayastha (a Hindu writer caste)
family. Saher served as Deputy235 Inspector of School around 1895. He was a poet
and wrote a marsia at Queen Victoria’s death. He also had published books on a
variety of subjects: math, geography, children’s education, and philosophy.
Pandit Girraj Kisore Dutt was educated at St John’s College, Agra, and had a
career as a judge. His focus on writing and translating books into Urdu was quite
natural. One of his works, A-iena-wakalat (Mirror of Advocacy) has been his claim to
fame.
Yusuf Khan Kambalposh (his last name means “user of a blanket”) is famous
for his travelogue, perhaps the first in Urdu, published in 1847 at Delhi and titled Ajā-
e-Bāt Farang (Wonders of Europe). Yusuf, originally from Hyderabad, set out to
travel, covering India and then sailing from Calcutta to France and England. He
praises the good manners of English people and describes his adventure with wine
and women. In one episode, Yusuf justifies wine drinking as follows:
“Wahn ke malik ne bahut ikhlq se mulaqt ki aur sharb anguri hum ko pil-iey,
ajab z-iqa ki thi, ki dil se nahien bhulti. Aek shakhs mera naukar tha, us ne mujh se
kaha - tum mazhab musalmani rakhte ho Shareb kyon peetey ho? mein ne jawab
diya keh, hazrat Paigham bar ne sheera angur ka mana nahein kiya.”
[Translation: The owner of the place met me very politely and offered me grape
wine. I cannot forget its wonderful taste. A man who was my servant asked, “You
are of Muslim religion and drink wine?” I replied, “The honorable Prophet did not
forbid grape juice.”
Mirza Ismail Meeruthi (1844-1918) was a poet, but made his name writing
numerous Urdu textbooks for primary classes, which were used all over India even in
the 20th century. Inspired by Hali’s friendship, his poetry focused on nature, and his
diwan has been published.
9.11 REGIONAL SOCIETIES AND URDU PROSE
The nineteenth century was the time of Urdu’s uninhibited growth throughout
the subcontinent. Its expansion into the Punjab got a significant boost after the
Mutiny, as Lahore, not Lucknow, was the safe haven for fleeing academics, and
where the first university of north took shape (1870). In Bombay Urdu-promoting
society, Anjuman-e-Islam had a similar mission. Bengal and Madras too had their
own pro-Urdu societies.
Fort St. George College-Madras (1812-1854)
This college had a mission similar to FWC and, according to Dr. Sami
Ullah,236 had a department of four Dravidian languages, Urdu, Persian in addition to
SKT, and its own library and a press. The Urdu faculty, inclusive of Mr. Taurab Ali,
Hasan Ali, and Ghulam Husan, generated some 25 books, such as Meezan-ul-hisab,
Gulistan Hindi, Taleem Nama etc.
235. H. H. Qadri (1995), p. 390.

236. Ullah Sami (1988), p. 365.
213
Mohammedan Literary Society and Urdu in Bengal-Calcutta (1863)

Established in 1863 by Moulvi Abdul Latef Khan, its mission was to promote
education, science, and literature among Bengal’s Muslims. It was pretty strong in
science and had an experimental laboratory, as described by Mohammad Hasan Azad,
who had attended its conference (1867). Azad connected the society with his own
Punjab Society. Languages utilized by it were Urdu, Arabic, and Persian.
Much earlier than this, Bengal in fact was a center of Urdu during the early
days of the EIC. Madars-e-alia (Exalted College), a kind of university founded by the
Governor Warren Hastings, had Urdu-Persian and Arabic as its medium. Ram Mohan
Rai’s first newspaper had an Urdu section around 1825. Exiled Wajid Ali Shah along
with thousands in his entourage indeed was a booster for Urdu in Bengal after 1857.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, Calcutta had numerous Urdu newspapers, such
as Urdu Guide, Bharat Akhbar, and Gauhar, while Dacca and Murshidabad were
major Urdu centers with active Urdu departments in nineteenth-century India and
later.
Bombay’s Urdu in 19th Century
Directly inspired by Sir Syed’s program, Anjuman-e-Islam, Bombay, was
started in 1874 by Badr-Uddin Tayiyab Ji,237 a judge of Bombay High Court. The
mission here was a general-purpose, broad, socio-cultural, and educational, with an
Urdu medium. Persian and Arabic, science, and English were the focus in schools and
colleges established by Anjuman, which included women’s education as well.
Anjuman had its own newspaper in Urdu, Gujarati, and English. Of late, an Urdu
research institute, since 1947, has been providing an M.A.-level education and doc-
torate-level research in affiliation with Bombay University. Anjuman has produced
some personalities of international stature: Mr. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan,
Allama Yusuf Ali, author of the most popular translation of the Quran; and the
famous film personality, Yusuf Khan, alias Dilip Kumar. Bombay certainly is the
place where Urdu has been in action since the earliest days of EIC and is currently
one of the most important centers in the subcontinent. Bombay’s role in show biz
Urdu is unique and discussed separately (Chapter IV).
Anjuman-e-Punjab–Lahore (1865)
Mohommad Husain Azad, was the first Secretary of the Anjuman. Founded on
February 21, 1865, its mission was very wide—from social welfare to education, to
business and industries etc. It appeared as a public platform or people’s assembly to
help the government.238 Its full name in English was “Society for Dispersion of
Useful Knowledge in Punjab.” In general, it mirrored the Scientific Society, had a
large library, a newspaper and a publication bureau. With the establishment of Ori-
ental College and Punjab University (1870), Anjuman activities had become closely
linked with the educational system. Anjuman’s most significant achievement,
according to Dr. Sami Ullah, was the establishment of “Punjab textbook Committee,”
popularly known as Lahore Book Depot, 239 and to which Hali and Asub were
237. Ibid. p. 390.

238. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 348-349.
239. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 385-387.
214
attached. Production of books in Urdu was its important agenda. Anjuman was quite
famous internationally; its journals circulating even in Europe.
Anjuman-e-Tarraqi-e-Urdu (1903)
As various committees and societies rose and fell during the 19th century, along
with Urdu-Hindi tussle, Urdu’s protagonist ended up establishing a central all-India
society, or Anjuman, to promote Urdu with headquarters at Delhi Moulvi. Abdul Haq,
an MAOC Alumnus, its first secretary, had spent his whole academic career super-
vising the Anjuman, editing its periodicals. Anjuman has published thousands of
books since its inception. In 1947, a Pakistani branch emerged, taking Abdul Haq
with it.
9.12 URDU POETRY IN THE 19TH CENTURY
Urdu’s poetic tradition can be described just in one word—colossal—in every

respect: range, volume, and music worthiness. If one were to add up all the published
poetry from the 18th to the 20th centuries written in every Indo-Pak language, perhaps
half of it would be Urdu’s contribution.
In the 19th century, poetry had focused not only on ghazals, but also other
themes as well: the politics of mutiny, tension between modernism and orthodoxy,
and “marsia.” We also find new idioms and use of English words. Above and beyond,
we find Englishmen trying their luck with Urdu poetry, some with great success. One
also finds Urdu poets everywhere in the 19 th century, at every district level
throughout the subcontinent, even among Bengalis and Dravidians. But the master
poets continued to spring mainly from the Delhi and Lucknow areas, with some from
Allahabad, Lahore, Patna, Calcutta, and Hyderabad. Railways and postal services in
the 19th century had helped in mutual correspondence and the integration of ideas,
which eliminated regionalism and made the language quite uniform. We find poets
everywhere having disciples. Dagh of Delhi, perhaps, holds the record for having the
greatest number—over a thousand.
9.12.1 North Indian Poets
This area which includes Bengal, Punjab, and the area in-between has produced
Urdu’s master poets (chapters VII-VIII); a sample follows.
Sheikh Ibrahim Zauq (1789-1854)
Zauq, perhaps, is less famous for his work than his disciples, including the
Moghul emperor-poet, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Mohammad Husain Azad, and Dāgh.
Although his poetic work remained overshadowed by his rival, Ghalib, Zauq had a
humble social base, being the son of a poor soldier. But by his aptitude for learning
and diligence, he achieved a royal status and was awarded the title “Malik-Ul-Shora”
(king of poets). Zauq is famous for his qaseeda style, but his ghazals are also famous
for their musical quality. The following samples belong to his famous ghazals:
“Ai shama teri umar taba hai aek rāt
hans kar guzār dey ya ro kar guzār dey.”
215
[O candle! (flame) your lifespan is but one night

you can either spend it smiling or lamenting].
This couplet is a common quotation. The next one is just as interesting:

“Waqt peeri shabāb ki bātein,
ai-see hain jai-sey khwāb ki bātein.”
[Talk of youth during old age seems

Like you’re talking of some dream!]
Another extremely popular one explains the concept of life and death:
“La-iee hayāt ā-ey qaza ley chali chaley
Apni khushi na ā-ey na apni khushi chaley.”
[Life brought me here and death takes me away

I did not come of my own will nor do I leave with it].
Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862)

Zafar was Zauq’s most celebrated student/disciple, and his work reveals his
teacher’s inspiration. Zafar’s tragic life surrounding the Mutiny of 1857 and his end
in Burma will sadden most readers. His poems reflect this tragedy. Two of his famous
verses are quoted below: one reflects on the status of a king and a beggar; the other,
his impending death away from his home, India:
“Ya to afsar mera shahana banāya hota,
Ya mera taj gadayāna banāya hota.”
[In this verse, the poet addresses God and says:

“I wish my status was that of a real king
Or my crown had the status of a beggar.”]
“Umrey darāz māng ke la-ey they chār din

Do ārzu mein kat ga-ey do intizâr mein.”
[This borrowed long life was but of four days

Spent two desiring, and two waiting for fulfillment (of desires).]
Momin Khan Momin ( 1800-1852)

Momin, a physician by profession, was well-educated, rich, and indulged in the
“good life” of Delhi. He refused a professorship offer from Delhi College, upon
finding that the salary was “peanuts.” His ghazals are excellent and, at times, sensual.
Momin achieved fame in his lifetime and had even impressed Ghalib, who loved his
following verse:
“Tum merey pās hote ho goya
Jab koi dusrā nahein hota.”
216
[You are (in essence) with me (in conversation)

when no one else is around. ]
The following verse is also very commonly cited. Note the use double sense of
his name Momin, meaning “an observant Muslim”:
“Umr to sāri kati ishq butān mein Momin,
Âkhri waqt mein kya khāk musalmān hongey.”
[Momin, you spent your entire life loving idols (women)

How then would you become a Muslim at the end (of life).]
Asad ullah Khan-Ghalib (1796-1869)

Ghalib’s personal tragedies and brave sense of humor are reflected in his
massive work reviewed by many, including Dr. Jalibi, in detail, and also by
Saxena.240 Ghalib replaced Zauq as the royal poet and was acclaimed as a master
poet quite early. Ghalib has remained unchallenged in name and fame among Indian
poets of any language. His work has been translated in most languages, and been the
focus of films and serials. Some of his quotations (as follows) are widely used. His
work, though, is not easy and does require some elaboration.
“Na tha kuch to khuda tha,
Kuch na hota to khuda hota.
Duboya mujh ko honey ne

Na hota mein to kya hota.”
[When nothing else existed, there was God;

If nothing had existed there, there would still have been God
I am doomed by my very existence
What would I be if I didn’t exist?]
“Gham-e-hasti ka asad kis se ho juz marg elāj,

Shama har rang mein jalti hai saher honey tak.”
[Death is the remedy of life’s pain

Life or candle burns anyway till dawn].
Ghalib had gathered many students/disciples but was deeply aware of his own
talent. He described himself in the following words:
“Hain aur bhi dunyan mein sukhanwar bahut acchey,
Kehtey hain keh Ghalib ka hai andāz-e-bayān aur.”
[The world has some great poets

But Ghalib’s style, they say, is unique]
240. R. B. Saxena (1999), pp. 175-186.
217
Nawab Mirza Khan Dāgh (1831-1905)

He was born at Delhi in a family connected to the Royal House. After his
father’s death his mother was married to King Bahādar Shah’s son. Mirza Sultan
Dāgh thus had Zauq as his ustad (teacher). After the Mutiny, Dāgh found refuge with
Nawab of Rāmpur and lived there until 1886. He later settled in Hyderabad, where he
died. Dāgh had two famous disciples, Jigar of Moradabad, and Iqbal of Lahore. He is
considered one of the master poets and is famous for his ghazals, which sometime
reveal sensuality. Here are some examples:
“Shab-e-wasl zid mein basar ho ga-iee,
Nahein kehtey kehtey saher ho ga-iee.”
[An entire night rolled away by her steadfast refusal;

She persisted with No, No and the morning dawned].
Dāgh was keenly proud of the Urdu language and, therefore, sensitive to the
Urdu-Hindi tussle.
“Urdu hai jis ka nām ham jāntey hain Dāgh,
Hindustan mein dhum hamāri zabān ki hai.”
[We of course know what Urdu means;

It is the fame of my language which resonates through India].
Akbar Allahabadi (1846-1921)

Syed Akbar Husain of Allahabad was grounded in Arabic and Persian, became
a lawyer and a judge (1894), and gained name, fame, and titles, and fellowships at the
University of Allahabad. His poetic work is diverse and opposed to the wave of mod-
ernism sponsored by Syed Ahmad and MAOC. Akbar pioneered the use of English
words in poetry and is regarded as a master of satire and humor, like Zatal (Chapter
VII). As an elite member of Allahabad’s cultural life, he was extremely popular
among Urdu lovers and politicians like Tej Bahadur Sapru, Motilal, Nehru. The latter,
according to Allahabad’s grapevine, even named his house “Anand Bhawan,” a Hindi
version of “Ishrat Manzil,” the residence of Akbar meaning “home of comfort.” The
following citations reflect the issues of the time and Akbar’s eloquence:
“Azānon se sewa bedārkun enjan ki seeti hai,
Es per sheikh bechārey ney, chāti apni peeti hai.
[The engine’s whistle is louder than the adhān (call for morning prayer),
The sheikh (adhān caller) beats his chest in anger.]
Here, Akbar notices a relative lack of fear of God among people:

“Hareeson ne rapat likh-wa-iee ja kay thāney mein,
Keh Akbar nām leta hai khuda ka es zamâney mein.”
[Enemies have filed a police report, saying

Akbar dares to remember God in these times.]
218
Initially critical of Syed Ahmad and MAOC, Akbar later appreciates his effort
as follows:
“Hamari bātein bātein hain Syed kām karta tha,
Na bhulo farq jo hai kahney waley karney waley mein.”
[Syed actually did the work, we just chatter,

Don’t forget there is a difference between a doer and a talker.]
Other Poets of the North

At Lucknow there was an army of poets, including Nasikh (1771-1828), Atis
(1778-1847), and others. Daya Shanker Nasim (1811-1843) is a prominent one,
famous for his masnavi entitled “Gulzar-e-Naseem.” In the art of “marsia.” Mir
Anees (1801-1874) and Dabeer (1803-1875) had become the “master poets.” Besides
Hali and Azad in Punjab, there were many like Iqbal and others who will be discussed
in subsequent chapters. At Patna, or Azeemabad, the culture of Urdu sustained
through the 19th century. The most celebrated poet was Sāad (1846-1927), whose
family had migrated from Allahabad. In Calcutta, the entourage of Wajid Ali Shah of
Lucknow settled at Matia Burj had created so-called “second Lucknow.” Mr.
Saxena,241 has mentioned dozens of names of poets, besides Wajid Ali Shah Akhtar.
9.12.2 South Indian Poets
Hyderabad, in particular, especially, maintained its high tradition in Urdu

poetry since 16th-17th centuries. Besides the immigrant poets, Dāgh, Minai, and many
others in Hyderabad, the ruler Nizām and his ministers excelled in poetry. Meer
Mehboob Ali Khan Asif (1869-1911), the ruler, a student of Dāgh, had published two
diwans. Maharaja Chandolal Shadan (1766-1845), the prime minister of Hyderabad,
excelled in Persian and Urdu poetry. Raja Girdhari Prasad Baqi (1840-1900), a
scholar of Persian, SKT, and Arabic, translated many books and wrote poems in
Urdu. Another famous poet is Maharaja Sir Kishen Prasad Shād (1864-1912), a prime
minister. His diwan of Persian and Urdu poetry have been published. In the 19th
century, Hyderabad had as many as three hundred poets.
9.12.3 Urdu Poetry of Suburbia/Village
The works of these poets had an audience of urban-educated people, a minority

(the literacy rate was about 3%). Urdu/Hindi language of the countryside and
suburbs, as stated in previous chapters, had been different, as it is even now. The lan-
guages of Insha, Tulsidas, and Kabir, lacking perfect Arabic-Persian pronunciation,
had a larger audience, which included the country folk, illiterate farmers, and artisans.
Hali, like Insa, had called this language “Ganwari.” One poet of the 19th century who
used this language was a rich anglophile.
241. R. B. Saxena (1999), pp. 199-205.
219
Manawwar Khan Dilmeer242 (~1850) a rais, or rich man, from Meerut, but not
a well-known poet, had presented a poem to the King Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1850
and was rewarded. His diwan was reviewed by Hali, the poet, according to Qadri. A
few examples from his works are quoted below:
“Ai merey khālik ai merey mālik,
Tu bâpu ham terey bâlak.”
[O my Creator, O my Lord,
You are father, we are your children].
Dilmeer wrote some pieces praising the British government. Here are some
examples:
“Angrejan ka mulkon raj,
Raja badey garib nawaj.”
[Englishmen rule the country,

These rulers are kind to the poor.]
9.13 BRITISH POETS OF URDU
It is clear that Urdu’s evolution in the 18th-19th centuries has been an Indo-
British enterprise. Many of the British became acculturated and Indianized; some not
only enjoyed Urdu poetry, but became famous poets, with completed diwans. It is
estimated that as many as a hundred243 poets of Urdu belonged to the English or
Anglo-Indian community in the 19th century. Some are reviewed here.
George Burns Shor (1823-1894)
Born at Aligarh, Mr. Shor lived through the turbulence of the Mutiny and had
traveled a great deal. Impressed by Dāgh, he wrote poems on his poems. Five of his
diwans published at Meerut include Sitara-e-Shor (Star of Shor) and others. His two
masnavi include narratives of the Mutiny, places, and people. In the following cou-
plets cited by Dr. Akhtar, Shor recognizes Ghalib and Meer in his simple language:
“Voh Ghalib zamāney mein yakta,
Keh Ghalib har aek par hamesha rahey.”
[Ghalib was one and unique;

He remained ghalib (dominant) over everyone.]
“Thay shora’a bhi Delhi mein voh be misāl,

Keh tha shair goi mein un ko kamāl;
Huwey namvar ai-sey they aek Meer,
Keh Diwan un key hain cheh benazeer.”
242. H. H. Qadri (1995), p. 686.

243. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 259-265.
220
[A poet of Delhi, he was incomparable

In composing poems he was skillful;
He became famous, his name was Meer
Whose six Diwans are unrivaled.]
In the next, he talks about his own poetry:

“Firangi tujhey kehte hai aek jahan,
Par es qaum ki yeh zabān hai kahān.
Kahān se tu lāya yeh sheerin kalam?
Aur es par rakkha Shor phir apna nām.”
[The world calls you a firangi (European)

But this language (Urdu) doesn’t belong to them
Where did you get these sweet words
And even named yourself Shor (fame).]
Francois Guadulupe (1777-1861)

Son of a German father and French mother, he was born at Delhi, where he
became a disciple of Naseer Dehlvi, mentor of Zauq. He wrote ghazals and other
types of poetry as well as fiction. His style is reminiscent of Zauq and Naseer in the
following citation:
“Hai chashm tar āb rawan koi kuch kahey koi kuch kahey,
Huwey kisi ko kuch gumān koi kuch kahey koi kuch kahey.”
[When tears roll down; people wonder and talk

Some have doubts and others just guess.]
There were even lady poets. One named Ann had a title “Malka.” She was a
student of Abdul Ghaffar Nisakh. One of her couplets is really of high quality. A
sample is reproduced from Dr. Akhtar’s book:244
“Hijr mein dil ko be qarari hai,
Josh va faryad va ahu zāri hai.”
[This heart is restless in separation

There is excitement, pleading and lamentation.]
There are several others quoted by Dr. Akhtar, such as Alexander Haderley
Azad, Robert Gardner, Balthazar, another disciple of Naseer, and Aron Jacob, a dis-
ciple of Riyaz Khairabadi.
244. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 259-265.
221
9.14 19TH CENTURY UTILITY, URDU
Urdu language in the 19th century especially after its recognition (1835) was
the single most utilized language of India in every sphere: administration, education,
entertainment, journalism, and religion. In the administrations, Urdu was the lan-
guage being used along with English and was even significantly preferred over the
latter. As late as 1911, among the literate (about 7%), the dominant majority must
have been Urdu-literate. In NWP, or U.P., for example, at a district level, the elite,
consisting of about 250 during 1881,245 had used Urdu exclusively. Urdu had an elite
image, an urban phenomenon to a large extent.
Religious books of Hindus and Muslims had a significant contribution from the
Urdu language. According to Mr. Saxena,246 books such as Geeta and Ramayana had
several translations. Biographies of Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Nanak, and Kabir were
available in Urdu. Muslim holy books, Quran, Prophet’s Life, and biographies of
Caliphs and Imams were all in Urdu in the 19th century.
Journalism became a foremost utility of Urdu apart from the magazines and
periodicals mentioned earlier with the Scientific Society and other societies. News-
papers in Urdu, from Calcutta (1822), Delhi (1830s), and later on from Lucknow,
Lahore, and elsewhere, utilized Urdu to link the whole country. In 1848, of the 14
newspapers in NWP, eleven247 were in Urdu, and 3 were in Persian. The number rose
to 33 in 1870, with a few in Nagari script but with low circulation. Kohinoor of
Munshi Harsukh Rai from Lahore became quite famous in 1850.248 Munshi Naval
Kishore, an employee at Kohinoor, picked up the pieces at its closure and started the
famous Oudh Akhbar in 1858. But several other papers, such as Ashraf Akhbar
(Delhi), Vitoria (Sialkot), Qasim Akhbar (Banglore), Karnama (Lucknow), and
Rozgar (Madras), rose and fell; these show the extent of Urdu’s reach in India.
Subsequently, Oudh Akhbar (Lucknow) of Munshi Naval Kishore, Oudh
Punch (1877) of Lucknow, Sams-al-Akhbar (Madras), and Akhbar-e-am (Lahore)
became the foremost newspapers of the later part of the century. In addition, Paisa
Akhbar (penny newspaper) of Lahore also became a popular newspaper.
Also, literary magazines as well started to make appearances in the 19th
century. “Zamana” (Time) of Kanpur, “Adeeb” of Allahabad, “Dilguzar” of
Lucknow, and “Hazar Dastan,” (Thousand Stories) of Lahore had been some famous
journals of their time. Others of later years, “Shabab Urdu” of Lahore, “Nigar” of
Lucknow, “Maarif” of Azamgarh, “Makhzan” of Lahore, and “Akbar” of Allahabad
made significant strides in Urdu journalism.
Publication of books and journals predominated in Urdu. In 1871, of a total of
371 books, 81 and 52 were in Urdu and Hindi, respectively, and 40 in Arabic-Persian,
and 6 in SKT. Through Mushairas and mujras (singing by dancing girls), Qawwali,

246. R. B. Saxena (1929), pp. 393-394.
247. David Lilyveld (1996), p. 82.
248. R. B. Saxena (1929), pp. 342-344.
222
etc., had Urdu maintained its value; Bhajan-Keetans were supposedly in Hindi.
Drama, stage shows leading to films, though appearing in the 19th century, really
came to mature in the 20th century. This will be reviewed in depth subsequently.
Chapter 9 reviews the evolution of an old indigenous language, Urdu, replacing

the foreign Persian from official status after seven centuries. A significant devel-
opment in its prose made Urdu college-worthy and media-worthy for national use and
show business. The chapter also reveals the birth of linguistic racism, masked as the
Indo-European language family of the Aryan race. It also notes the British, using the
Aryan card, creating Hindu-Muslim discord and a creation of another form of Urdu,
called “Hindi” for Hindus, written in Nagari script. The chapter discusses the possible
political objective of creating an IE language family masked as an “academic” enter-
prise. Additionally, the chapter reviews the growth of Urdu prose at Calcutta, Delhi,
Aligarh, and elsewhere, and the contributions of many Indian and foreign poets and
scholars (along with some popular quotations) in building the modern Urdu language.
The chapter also notes the persistence of a powerful secular culture in the North,
Hindu-Muslim cooperation in building Urdu, and the creation of MAOC, etc., despite
the British-created polarization in Bengal. The British policy of divide-and-rule in
India exploiting Hindi vs. Urdu issues is the focused of the following chapter.
223
CHAPTER X. HINDI’S CREATOR: BRITISH BENGAL
10.0 INTRODUCTION
As we begin to review the new Hindi, one must remain cognizant of the utili-
tarian value of language/script and its need in statecraft. Adoption of Urdu and its
script should be seen as a contemporary necessity, an unavoidable choice of any ruler,
whether Hindu, Muslim, or British. Adoption of Aramaic by Cyrus and SKT by
Mehmud and Ghori are examples discussed earlier (chapter IV-VIII). Therefore the
adoption of a new Bengali and synthesis of Aryan Hindi against the “state-sponsored
(Urdu) script” must be seen in perspective; as a political need for Hindu Bengali and
north Indian Hindus in the context of revival of Hindu nationalism; a clear British
strategy. But in a larger context the whole world, as a matter of fact, had come to
believe that the language/script combinations, SKT-Hindi/DNS and Arabic-Urdu/
APS were religious. Syed Ahmed Khan, certainly, was unique with his non-divine,
utilitarian view of the script.
Another critical and often ignored dimension is the contradicting realities of
the different regions and their perpetual struggle within India against each other for
political supremacy. In the context of Hindi’s synthesis, as noted, one finds two
opposing regional forces; one is highly communalized British Bengal led by English-
educated anti-Muslim Hindu Bengalis, underemployed and pitted against the other,
which consisted of the North, with Moghul secularism, largely free of religious
polemics and using either Persian and/or (government-supported) Urdu and with the
negligible (then) role/status of English. Historians with pro-Urdu or pro-Hindi tilt
often blame either the British and/or each other, while the real reasons for the Hindi/
Urdu controversy lie with circumstances and economic compulsion of various
regions/factions, including that of the British. In plain terms, it was the fight for the
pie among the educated elite (Muslim and Hindu), numbering no more than 3% of the
population. For them the issues of education, language, and script and their linkage
with jobs were as critical in 19th century India as it is now. This tiny (2-3%) elite had
been running the Moghul system, which in fact had pioneered the state and/or
225
private-funded public education, then non-existent even in contemporary Europe. A

short review is important.
10.1 SCRIPTS AND EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY
The Moghul education system was antiquated but extensive, non-discrimi-

nating and had supported local and regional languages and scripts. Persian was quite
often an additional necessity for a job, like English is now. In the northern Urdu/Hindi
belt, the Nagari script, contrary to the propagated view of its impending extinction,
was alive and healthy among Hindus and some educated Muslims as well. Education
was really well funded. In one estimate as much as 25% of Bengal’s revenue was
endowed for it. Dr. Tarachand249 provides few details about its dimensions. In Bengal
(including Bihar, Orrisa, and Assam) during 1835-1838, for example, there were 100,
000 elementary schools (1 for every 400 persons) and about 100 higher grade schools
(1 in each district). Madras had about 12,500 institutions during this period.
Enrollment was dominated by Hindu Brahmins by tradition and no one cared in this
integrated secular system. In Murshidabad (Bengal), for example, with a Muslim
majority, out of 998 students only 82 were Muslim; and in south Bihar, of 2918 stu-
dents, Muslim numbered only 172. Muslims were a backward group even during the
Muslim period as well. Faculty, likewise, was dominated by Brahmin and Kayastha
(writers caste). Thus, in the English-oriented modern education, the domination by
the Bengali-Brahmin was not surprising. They had led the Hindu renaissance and also
Hindi’s creation.
10.2 HINDI’S SEED IN BENGAL (AT FORT WILLIAM)
As referred in the earlier chapter, the British initiated Hindi’s synthesis at

FWC, the objective being the adoption of DNS and the exchange of Arabic/Persian
with SKT words. The term “Hindi,” a secular term of Amir Khusro (chapter VII-
VIII), was reincarnated with a new communal sense, as “Hindu” or Aryan language
or script. Urdu and its APS were declared as foreign. Initial work, as noted, had com-
menced with translations (table IX.1) by Lallu Lal Ji and others. The policy per-
spective of EIC/FWC comes to light in a letter of explanation by the chairman of
Urdu/Hindustani, Mr. William Taylor, who deliberated on “falling standards” in his
department. The letter, translated from Dr. Sami Ullah’s book,250 runs as follows:
I am quite confident that there has been no negligence regarding education of
Hindustani or Reekta (Urdu) taught in Persian script for which I am responsible.
My discussion does not include “Hindi” written in Nagari, a language devoid of Per-
sian/Arabic words, and the ancient-original language of North and northeast prior
to the Muslim invasion. I have tried my best to expand the education of this “lan-
guage” at the cost of any health. In the end, I do realize to restrict my mandate to
249. Tarachand (1992) Vol. I. pp. 183-184.

250. Ullah Sami (1988), pp. 62-68.
226
Chapter X. Hindi’s Creator: British Bengal
teach only Hindustani; between Hindi and Hindustani, the latter, of course, is more
important; quality surely has deteriorated from this point of view.
This letter is the first document defining “Hindi” as an indigenous language
prior to Muslim invasion, an overt misrepresentation of the term “Hindi” coined by
Delhi’s poet, Khusro. But Mr. Rodelle, secretary or principal of FWC, stands out as
the first to characterize the status of Urdu as “Muslim and a foreign language,” his
letter to government secretary, Lashington, runs as follows:
Hindustani, which is taught here or Urdu, also known as the language of Delhi,
of course, is used by elites, epecially Muslims of Hindustan (Bihar and U.P.) in con-
versation. Since it was established by Moghuls, based on western dialect, Persian
and Arabic, it is still considered as a foreign language.
The term Hindustan was often used for the North and Northwest tract around
Delhi. Rodell had further added that, despite learning Urdu, three fourths of Indians
do not understand the Persian-Arabic content of this language taught at FWC. It was
true and obviously due to mass illiteracy (The literacy rate was ~3% in the first
census of 1871 and largely urban and Urdu-based). He therefore recommended his
preference to promote a SKT-based, indigenous language, such as Brijbhasa, called
Hindi, or Hinduiy, instead of Hindustani (Urdu), along with Persian. His request was
accepted by the governor-general at once as the 7 th article of FWC. The new
chairman of Hindustani, (Urdu) William Price, supervised and directed this shift in
the policy. He started using the term “Hindi” instead of Brij bhasa, Khari boli etc.,
and would sign his name as a professor of Hindi, rather than of Hindustani. The Hindi
vs. Urdu debate at FWC became an openly contentious issue. Hindi’s promotion
along with Bengali seems to have become the focus. Progress was indeed slow, with
even the governor-general taking a keen interest. At an annual day (1825) William
Pit, the governor and Lord Amherst, both of whom expressed their opinion against
Urdu in a joint statement as follows:
Bengali and Hindi Language have been victims of negligence; in spite of annual
reminders from this forum, there had been no effect. Now they have been made an
inseparable part of the syllabus with the new regulations. In the Hindi group,
according to common understanding, are included those languages which are prev-
alent in Bihar, Benaras, and administered territories, especially among “the Hindu
population.” I want you to pay maximum possible attention to these languages,
which according to my information, are the languages of this country.
Very lucidly, one can see FWC targeting Urdu as a foreign and Hindi as indig-
enous language of Hindus, knowing fully well that the non-urban population of
Hindus and Muslims, both making up about 90% then, spoke simple non-Persianized
languages. FWC was calling this the Hindu language; and a more Persianized cul-
tured one spoken at urban centers, Urdu and foreign. These, in fact, as described in
earlier chapters, were two tracts of the people’s language, Ganwari of Insha, and
Dilmir and Urdu of the urban and educated. This distinction certainly helps in the def-
inition of Hindi in DNS. FWC created Hindi textbooks and grammar books, serving
as the basic core to develop textbooks later for primary education in Hindi after the
227
formulation of an education policy in 1835. In this year Urdu, along with English, had
been accepted to replace Persian in the administration and the judiciary.
Hindi’s creation thus launched so called the “communalism” virus by Indian
scholars. Hindi and Urdu were awarded the new labels and “separatism” really took
its first breath right here. It is though surprising that “Hindi’s advent” at FWC is
blacked out by most scholars, Dr. Tarachand, Nehru and others; and even Bipan
Chandra in his excellent work on communalism ignores this fact. It may be due to the
lack of information in English medium literature. In Urdu medium of course it has
been well known even before Dr. Sami Ullah’s updated research; Hindi’s progress
however was very slow in the beginning and confined to communalized Bengal.
Mutineers apparently were not infected by the virus. The shock of mutiny, perhaps,
had demonstrated its urgent need to its two basic craftsmen British and Bengalis. By
1860s the new Hindi had moved into the secular north through Allahabad Bengali
association and initiated its battle against Urdu.
10.3 DEFINITION OF NEO-HINDI
The definition was a difficult issue: What should be this Hindi? In essence it
was a regression process they had to undertake, but rules remained undefined with the
exception of script. Among various dialects to choose from Khari boli, Brij, Magadhi
etc., Khari had become Muslims’ Urdu.
The most contentious issue was Persian-Arabic words, as none dared to be
critical of the iconized religious work of poets Kabir, Tulsi, and Sur Das, who had uti-
lized Arabic-Persian (chapter VII). And going back to the PKT age or style with no
foreign words would also mean slighting the Hindu’s Ramayana and Sikh’s scrip-
tures, loaded with “foreign words.” So finally it was the script which mattered most,
and authors reigned free in the choice of vocabulary and style. But higher merit
seemed to be attached with more SKT, less foreign words, and the avoidance of Khari
boli. In the 19th century, we thus find great variation in Hindi prose and poetry, but
Khari boli finally prevailed because Urdu already had created a space for its twin.
Another “sense of Hindi” and its purpose at FWC, the script aside, was to
bridge the gulf between the urban elite and the rural, or country, illiterate folks, an
understandable necessity. But to replace Arabic/Persian with SKT-Tatsam was self-
defeating because illiterate folks are/were as distant from the difficult SKT as Arabic/
Persian; and country folks would remain high and dry, without any benefit. This in
fact was the second issue at FWC, besides the script. As a matter of fact, simplifi-
cation in Urdu itself had started after Nadir Shah’s invasion as an anti-Persian
reaction (chapter-VIII) as noted in the work of Mir Dard, Esswi Khan, Dilmir, and
Insha Khan’s prose. Insha’s work, Rani Ketki ki Kahani (1803), is considered a
classic and has been hailed as “the first story or novel of Modern Hindi.251 Insha, a
Muslim, had mentioned this trend of the removal of Persian words and appeared to
have reconciled with the surging new trend. His comment252 (translated from Urdu)
251. Times of India, Dec. 8th, 2000.
228
was as follows: “Some educated people these days have adopted a trend to discard
foreign words from everyday writing and letters. Our brothers (Hindus) seem deter-
mined and whatever happens, for good or bad, will happen anyway and we will see.”
Commenting on his own prose work, he further adds on this odd trend: “Even those
easy, light, familiar fully adopted foreign (Persian-Arabic) words in our daily speech,
are replaced by fat, heavy, different, and odd words of SKT or Brij to make the lan-
guage more difficult, complicated, and puzzling, instead of simplification; Rani-
Ketki does not have this defect.”
Insha was imaginative and his storied work includes some poetry also. He
coined the term “chautha” for Rubaiee, or quatrain. One of his following Chautha, for
example, is devoid of SKT and Persian words and is considered as the earliest in
modern Hindi.
“Ghore pe apney carh ke ata hun,
Kartab jo hain so sab dikhata hun;
Es cahney waley ne jo caha to abhi,
Kahta jo hun kar dikhata hun.”
[Translation: Now I come riding on my horse, to show the tricks;

I’m sure if God wished, I will be able to perform my trick.]
The old style language reviewed in chapter VII and VIII was something that
the FWC people or pro-Hindi group seemed to desire, a clearly regressed language.
Muslims in fact had contributed significantly even in the development of “Hindi”
grammar. Of Brij bhasa, a good example is Mirza Khan’s “Tuhfa-tul-Hind,” or Gift of
India253 and of Khari-boli, Abdul Waseh’s “Gharaib-al-Lughat Hindi.” In addition,
Muslim’s contribution in the literature of so-called “Hindi” has been profuse. This is
true also in other languages and scripts of India, Bengali, Tamil, Gujrati, etc. The
bottom line was really “the politics of script” to help communalize the secular north.
The role of Hindu Bengalis, in fact, is fundamental.
10.4 BENGALI’S HELP IN HINDI
Bengali Hindus, according to Dr. Chatterji,254 himself a Bengali Hindu, ini-

tiated the new Hindi for Hindu Aryans as a voluntary help/noble cause. On this stated
aim, “Aryan-Hindu national language,” Dr. Chatterji gloats with pride. Two
extremely prominent Bengali scholars spoke fervently to promote Hindi. Keshub
Chandra Sen (1838-1884) in his newspaper, according to Chatterji, wrote, “If Hindi
can be made the sole national language it would promote unity quickly, but doubted if
the British government favored such a unity.” Another important and famous civil
servant, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, in his periodical, “Bangla Darshan,” stated that
252. Hamid Hasan Qadri (1995), pp. 168-171.

253. Masood Hasan Khan (1993), pp. 189-201.
254. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 154-158.
229
Bengalis must learn Hindi since outside Bengal, English and Bengali are extremely
limited. He exhorted the readers as follows:
They indeed would deserve to be called true friends of India who will be able to
establish the bond of unity among different provinces of India with the help of the
Hindi language; let us all try, let all of us work; our intention will be fulfilled even
though it may take a long time.
Sen was realistic as he knew that British could not give up Urdu and dislocate
the entire administration. Bankim reveals the weakness of the Bengali-educated
unemployed (the lack of Persian and/or Urdu proficiency) and their limitations
outside Bengal. Bengalis’ careers were essentially tied up with English, not Urdu or
Hindi; through Hindi vector they attempted to release the Urdu controlled jobs in the
North, not for loyal Hindus really but for English educated “themselves.”
Bengali scholars really went around propagating Hindi, all the way into
Punjab, supplementing the call of Dayananda, a Hindu reformer, who was the most
powerful opponent of Urdu. Bengalis did have in fact prior expertise in sanitizing
their own Bengali as noted before; they helped Hindi on similar lines, supplying the
SKT equivalent of Arabic/Persian words.
10.5 HINDI WRITERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY
As the educational policy of EIC unfolded, literacy work slowly took off to
propagate the Nagari Hindi. From the core work at FWC by Lallu Lal Ji and others
(table-ix-1) arose generations of dedicated poets and writers. Many of them were
inspired by Bengali writers, such as Bankim Chandra Chatterji, famous for his
“Anand Math,” a provocative anti-Muslim work. Arya Samaj, or Aryan society
movement, of Dyanand provided the most powerful impetus to propagate Hindi, re-
titled “Aryan-Hindi,” through the chain of institutions run by this society. The
movement, a part of Hindu revivalism, had focused on Urdu’s citadel, Punjab and
U.P. poets and writers reveal a variety. Some reveal religio-political fervor against
Urdu and Muslims; others have neutral views. The Hindi propagation later on turned
to “Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan,” a political anti-Muslim slogan meaning “one language,
Hindi, one religion, Hinduism, and one future country, Hindustan or India.” Pandit
Pratap Misra founded an organization, “Nagari Pracarni Sabha,” or Nagari propa-
gation society. Led by Pandit Shyam Sunder, the society undertook enormous work of
translation and research.255 Society’s objective for Hindi’s recognition and Urdu’s
replacement met with negligible success (this will be discussed later). The issue had
remained under debate until Indian independence (1947). Few important Hindi
writers played a basic role in creating the new Hindi literature.
Bhartendu-Harish Chandra (1850-1884)
Born in the Urdu-Hindi heartland of Kashi/Benaras, U.P., Harish Chandra, like
Syed Ahmad Khan of Aligarh, was one of the greatest reformers, author, and poet,
255. Mohammad Hasan (1993), pp. 155-166.
230
who had been inspired by Bengal’s intellectuals and poets. His mouthpiece was
“Harischandra Chandrika,” a periodical which revolutionized Hindi prose towards
modernity. His work is voluminous and has been reviewed by Prof. Hasan in detail.
He has written numerous famous plays such as “Chandrawali,” “Bharat Dur dasa,” or
“India’s pathetic state,” and “Andher Nagari,” or “Chaotic, corrupt city.” His work
had focused on the “exploitation by Brahmins,” devotion to Lord Krishna and Radha,
and women’s education. One of his plays starts with the following couplet:
“Ohu sab bal ke ohu bharat bha-iee,
haha bharat dur dasa na dekhi ja-iee.”
[Translation: O all! Powerful Indian brother; Oh yes! India’s sad status is

intolerable.]
Another verse focuses on money and selfishness, as follows in simple lan-

guage:
“Dhan ley kar kuch kam na awey,
Onci neecee rah dikhawey
samney parey par sadhey gungi,
Kiyon sakhi sjan neh sakhi cungi.”
[Translation: Borrower of (your) money does not return your reward or help;
he gives you excuses this or that,
when you need it back. O Mister!
Generous gentlemen and generous taxpayer]
Harish Chandra had maintained the use of Persian-Arabic words (underlined)

as noted in the above citation.
Raja Shiv Prasad, a non-Bengali retiree of EIC education department though
had opposed the elimination of common Persian-Arabic words. In his Hindi news-
paper “Benaras Akhbar,” he had used a mixed Urdu in Nagari; a specimen follows
with Persian-Arabic words, underlined:
“Yahan jo naya pathsala jo ka-ie sal se,
banta hai . . . os ka hal ka-ie dafa zahir ho cuka hai.”
[Translation: Here, the new college which is under construction

has been reviewed (written up) a few times.]
Another newspaper of Benaras edited by Mr. Tara Mohan Mitra (1850)256 a

Bengali and an ex FWC employee named “Sudhakar Akhbar” had focused on elimi-
nation of Persian-Arabic words but kept the usage of Arabic “Akhbar” or newspaper;
new Hindi equivalent “Samacar Patra” was a later creation. Raja Shiv Prasad of
Benaras, also wrote numerous text books and translated many in collaboration with
many others, such as Pandit Bansi Dhar and Shri Lal. One, Raja Shiv Singh con-
256. Mohammed Hasan (1993), pp. 149-151.
231
demned the tendency of removing all Persian-Arabic words substituting even easy
common words by odd, difficult SKT words, reflecting the emotion of Insha. A con-
temporary Raja Lakshman Singh (1851) though used difficult SKT in his newspaper
from Agra U.P. but did not oppose the use of Persian-Arabic. But he did differentiate
Hindi from Urdu as quoted by Prof. Hasan: “In my opinion, Hindi and Urdu lan-
guages are good. Hindi’s spoken by Hindus in this country and Urdu by Muslim, and
Persian educated Hindus.”
Bengalis even helped in Punjab, where Mr. Naveen Babu of Brahmosamaj and
Naveen Chand Roy helped in writing many books which helped to popularize Hindi.
In Punjab, there was Pandit Shradha Ram Phulwari, an Arya Samaj member also
composed numerous books and magazines in Hindi, and also in Urdu. His work had
focused on Arya Samaj’s ideology countering the Christian missionaries and Hindu
reform.
Harish Chandra’s Contemporaries
Prof. Hasan of Delhi, a Hindi historian, has reviewed scores of Hindi writers
who were significant in making the language as we know it today, a replacement of
British-sponsored Urdu in independent India.
Badri Narain Upadhya (d. 1913) of Mirzapur, near Allahabad, and a close
friend of Harishchandra, also excelled in drama, “Saubhagia” (“Good Fortune”)
being a famous one. He did compose some Hindi ghazals. Additionally, his wit and
openness turned him into a reviewer and critic. It is here that he found his niche to
fame. Drama seemed an attractive format for most Hindi writers in this era, in con-
trast to Urdu writers. They obviously took their cue from Bengali works and SKT, the
richest in Drama. Lala Shri Niwas (d. 1887) of Delhi is another famous playwright,
with “Prem Mohni,” a remake of Romeo and Juliet. Fred Pinet, an English busi-
nessman, made a name in Hindi prose, writing several books published from Kanpur
in U.P. during the 19th century.
In the 19th century, Hindi writers had focused mainly on prose, drama, and
stories. In addition, they passionately pushed the case of Hindi against Urdu after it
became somewhat rich, and propelled the Hindu-Muslim divide. Focus on prose kept
most writers occupied in the 20th century, as Prof. Hasan mentions. Prem Chand, of
course, stands out as the leading author of Urdu-Hindi short stories. Prem Chand
started with Urdu and wrote in both. We will discuss his role in detail later on. Mr.
Mahabir Prasad Divedi, the editor of the journal, “Saraswati,” who became famous
for his casual, simple, and straight language, was also a crusader for Hindi. He along
with Prem Chand, Babu Ram Gopal, Pandit Govind Narain and Chandra Dhar Galeri
and others dominated the early 20th century.
10.6 HINDI’S GROWTH
Historians of Hindi literature in the late 19th and 20th centuries have attempted
to discover Hindi’s root from dialect other than Khari boli-Urdu, such as Brij bhasa
etc., to define Hindi’s independence of Urdu. Work accumulated on various dialects
in Persian script after translation into Nagari script in 19th-20th century has served as
232
the core to establish Hindi’s credential, as the Aryan, or Hindu; script change was a
must because it alone had the unqualified status or gold standard of Aryansim. The
work of these Muslim-Hindu poets of so-called Hindi everywhere reveals a sprinkle
of Persian-Arabic as we have already seen. But these writers never dreamt that their
work would become an instrument for Hindu-Muslim separatism.
As early as the 16th century, we find a prose book, Mundan, by Vithal Nath and
a composition, Chaurasi Vardat-ien, or eighty-four episodes by Gokul Nath, followed
by a translation of a religious Puran by Damodar in the 17th century, according to Dr.
Qadri.257 The work of Citra bhuj Misra of the 18th century stands out as a landmark
in Urdu-Hindi prose prior to Insha’s work. This is a translation of SKT Bhagwat
Geeta to a simple Brij style still heavy in SKT language. At FWC, it was redone as
Prem Sagar (Table-IX-1) by Lallu Lal Ji. The following specimen from it reveals a
Khari boli style with a sprinkle of SKT underlined; otherwise, it is exactly similar to
Insha’s work noted earlier:
“Yeh suntey hi kans darkar kanp,
Uttha aur krodhkar devki ko jhontey,
Pakar kar rath se neecey kheench laya,
Kharag hath mein ley dant pees pees,
Laga kahney, jis paer ko jar he se,
ukhar-iey tas phool phal kahey ko lagey ga.”
[Translation: On hearing this, Kans trembled with fear and in anger;

pulled down Devki by hair locks from chariot
and mincing his teeth and with a sword in hand,
said that a tree pulled out with root can not bear flower or fruit.]
This text, having six words of SKT (14%), and 2 (5%) Persian out of 42, con-
tains 80% Munda and Dravidian words, the essence of Urdu-Hindi. Poetic tradition in
simple language in Brij and Khari had peaked in Moghul courts up to 1700, but were
written in Persian scripts as discussed earlier (Chapters VII and VIII). Sunder, the
royal poet of Shahjehan, wrote his famous “Sunder Srinigar” (“Beautiful Décor”)258.
A few other famous ones included by Hindi historians are “Mati Ram,” “Bihari Ras
Lane” (Syed Ghulam Nabi), “Bhusana,” and “Ghinanand.” All of these poets were
important. Alam was one colorful poet in the 17th century in the court of Azam Shah,
son of Aurangzeb. Alam’s work is full of romance and love. One specimen is as
follows:
“Danay ki na pani ki, na awey sudh khaney ki;
Yah gali mehbub ki, aram khus khana hai.”
[Translation: “[I] have not eaten or drunk, nor have [I] a desire to eat;
[to be] on my beloved’s street is all I need to survive.”]
257. H. H. Quadri (1995), pp. 151-160.

258. Mohammed Hasan (1993), pp. 114-115.
233
10.7 HINDI POETRY
In Hindi poetry Harishchandra stands out as a trendsetter. Urdu poetry in Khari

boli was his automatic role model, although regarded as a Muslim259 language,
because it did represent a modern dialect with a wider audience. Harishchand even
wrote in Urdu. Prior to him, we see this style in Dilmir, Insha, Nazir, Akbarabadi,
Kabir, and Khusro. The other style, Brij bhasa, was considered old. Prof. Hasan has
reviewed dozens of Brij bhasa poets. Most are from Central India, Gujrat, Rajasthan,
and Hill tracts. Maula Ram of Gurhwal is famous for “Garh Raj Wansh,” a long
poem, Sardar of Kashi (near Banaras) for his “Ram Ratnakar” and “Sringar Sangarh.”
Pandit Pratap Narain Misra, Devi Prasad Puran of Kanpur and many others found Brij
a more secure dialect with an anti-Urdu face.
In Khari dialect, Mahabir Prasad Dwedi, Maithli Saran Gupta, Pandit Ram
Shukul, Pandit Hari Awadh, and Ram Narest Tripath are the most famous, covering
the 19th and early 20th centuries. Of these, Maithli Saran Gupta acquired national
fame, through his association with Mahatama Gandhi and the Congress Party. His
famous poem, “Bharat Bharati,” is quite inspirational and perhaps inspired by Hali’s
musaddus,260 at least in style. A specimen of his work seems relevant here:
Chatriyo suno ab to kuyus ki kalima ko mat do,
nij des ko jiwan sahit tan man tatha dhan baint do,
vais yo suno vayapar sara mit cuka hai des ka,
sab dhan videsi har rahey hain par hai kya klek ka.
[O warrior caste, listen, crush the darkness and corruption

for this country, spend your wealth, body, life, and soul;
O merchant/worker caste, listen, country’s business is in ruin;
foreigners loot the wealth; what/why this insensitivity?]
Pandit Hari Awadh wrote in a simple style and often in Urdu style as is evident
from the following inspirational verse:
Car dak hum ne bharey to kya huwa

hai para maidan koson ka abhi
maulvi ai-esa na ho ga aek bhi
khub Urdu jo howey janta.
[Translation: what a big deal in just four steps? The field of acres still lies ahead,
there is no scholar of a kind, who knows Urdu well.]
Hindi’s momentum driven by nationalist sentiments and anti-Urdu fervor did

produce voluminous work in every field. After independence, Hindi free from anti-
Urduism, took a secular and progressive trend; this will be discussed in a later
259. Ibid. p. 179

260. Ibid. pp. 190-191.
234
chapter. In the 19th century, Hindi had itself become a popular language, but mainly
among Hindus of the North, showing up in journalism and classrooms.
10.8 HINDI LITERACY AND JOURNALISM
As the literacy rate and Hindi propagation progressed from around 3% (1881)
to 7% (1911) with educational expansion, a significant sized pro-Hindi group arose in
the last quarter of the 19th century; the group fought a crusade against Urdu which
was well established in every field, but Hindi was catching up. For example, in 1871,
of the 317 books261 published, Hindi accounted for 57, Urdu, 87, followed by 40 in
Arabic-Persian, and 7 in SKT, with 121 in Persian script compared to 64 in Nagari
script, a 2:1 ratio. These numbers changed in the 20th century in favor of Nagari. In
1889-90 the total number of Hindi books published was 361, 38.8% of total and in
1935-36 it jumped to 2139 books, 81.5% of total; Urdu’s total, 521 or 61.2% initially
declined to 252 or 10.9% of the total, according to Prof. Chatterji.262 The trend paral-
leled with newspapers and periodicals. In 1891, while 8000 subscribed to Hindi, Urdu
claimed 16,256. The ratio changed in Hindi’s favor in 1936; Hindi subscribers out-
numbered Urdu subscribers 824,880 to 182,485.
In spite of the readership change, Urdu remained pretty attractive and preferred
because of its official status, even in 1936. In the vernacular school final examination,
according to Chatterji, the percentage of Hindi medium examinees in 1890 was only
22.4% as compared to Urdu 77.6% a ratio of almost 1:4. Increased literacy in Hindi
had shifted this ratio in 1936 to 58.6 for Hindi and 41.4% for Urdu. In view of the low
population of Muslims (14%) in U.P. and their lower literacy percentage of Urdu,
41.4 really meant a persistent attraction of Hindu for Urdu due to a shared culture. In
English medium high schools, affordable to a richer elite group with an expected
lesser proportion of Muslim, Urdu had retained its hold in 1938; 43.2% of (Urdu)
versus 56.8% (Hindi). But at intermediate college level university examinations, the
percentage of Hindi (61.9%) was well above Urdu (38.4%).
Hindi had come of age by the last quarter of the 19th century, for good or bad,
but it had grown with a communal orientation, which was overtly divisive and sepa-
ratist. It had remained far behind Urdu in the quality of its poetry culture, but its cul-
tural institutions were becoming visible in the early 20th century. Thus, Mushairas of
Urdu turned up as “Kavi Sammelans,” and Bait Bazi appeared as “Antak-cheri,” the
latter involving two teams competing in reciting verses or couplets.
Hindi’s crusade against Urdu and its convergence into a national freedom
struggle and India’s partition is an emotional issue. Language historians continue to
ignore these issues. Seen through purely utilitarian perspectives they are further
explored.

262. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 248-249.
235
10.9 HINDI/URDU AND POLITICAL “ARYANISM”
The parochial origin of Hindi must be seen through the global perspective.
Hindi was a part of a puzzle in the German scheme, a political variety of Aryanism,
as noted in chapter II. The original good old mythical-Vedic spiritual/cultural variety
of Aryanism that had Indianized the West Asian Islam had been one of the main
pillars of Indian pluralism or “Indianness;” this variety, a powerful glue of South
Asia, transcends the religions and land boundaries. Political Aryanism, with its inno-
vative but fraudulent concept of two grand races, “Semitic” and “IE/Aryan,” should
be reviewed with hindsight. The Hindi of FWC, Aryan Bengal, and British divisive
craft had represented the political Aryanism or “racism” directly responsible for
history’s two “grand massacres” and/or disasters, “anti-Jewish Holocaust” and
“Indian Holocaust or Partition,” with about two million deaths by mutual slaughter.
British Aryans, having had enjoyed 100 years of peace/prosperity via this
“Aryanism” directly in Bengal and indirectly by supporting the “Hybrid Secular”
order elsewhere, had faced new challenges; they had to respond. While their new
“Hindi” was in infancy, three major developments, one local and two global, had
overwhelmed the order. Mutiny had shown the strength of secular power and
potential of British demise or expulsion. In the global arena the discoveries in Meso-
potamia or West Asia (1870s-1920s) which had discredited “India” as the oldest civi-
lization and the Greeks’ claim as the originator of sciences and alphabets had also
exposed the fantasy of the PIE/German/Aryanism homeland theory (barely 25 years
old), and most significantly, it had also discredited another German innovative
concept of a “Semitic” race and language. West Asian discoveries, like a steamroller,
had unsettled even the religious hypothesis (chapter III-V) and dogmas. This indeed
had impacted Indian scholars greatly. The third item, a strategic one, was the evolving
confrontation with Ottomans and a potential anti-Ottomanism, seemingly an anti-
Muslim war, and the inherent necessity to build a non-religious, non-crusade-looking
alliance. British policy after the mutiny reveals “appropriate” (for them) responses,
inherently not to everyone’s satisfaction.
Distancing from their main prop, Bengali Hindus and political support of
deprived Bengali Muslims, reflected the changed policy in Bengal. In the north, they
followed two tracks. A major one was continued support to secular forces of the
North led by Syed Ahmad Khan, incidentally a devout non pan-Islamist, like the
Moghuls. The minor track was just an appeasement to Hindu/Aryan sentiment for
“Hindi.” This had involved instigative support to pro-Hindi groups on several occa-
sions with patient hearings but never acceding to their demand to displace “for-
eigners-Urdu.” Urdu was the power of the state and was neither anti-Hindu nor pro-
Muslim, but utilitarian. We will review some reactions of both British and Bengali
leaders during this dynamic century (19th century) with this shifting alliance.
10.9.1 Love and Hate in the Aryan Family
Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833), the father of the Indian renaissance, raised
in Arabic/Persian Moghul tradition, had founded the famous “Braham-Samaj”
236
(“Divine Society”), a reform movement, at a time when India was accepted as the
cradle of civilization and the ancient home of white race/Aryans. Roy, a modern
enlightened Hindu reformer, reveals the contemporary (expected) self-confidence and
conviction about India in 1823, as cited by Prof. Halfbas.263 “Indians are certainly
indebted to the British for the introduction of useful mechanical arts but no means of
achievements within the field of science, literature, or religion. Rather the “first dawn
of knowledge” had been seen in India and in these areas; the rest of the world owed a
debt to the Indians.” Roy, a rich businessman, was also an ambassador of the last
Moghul King to the British Queen.
Roy lived in Aryan Bengal, the communalized state where he had founded the
first modern English medium college in India. He also stands out as a player in per-
petuating the Hindu-Muslim divide. He named his college “Hindu College” and pio-
neered a new tradition in India, naming colleges with religious terms. This college
was even closed to Muslim enrollment, according to Prof. Mujeeb.264 Secular North
India never had this problem, e.g., Delhi College as noted in previous chapter.
Radha Kant Deb265 was Roy’s younger contemporary and a SKT scholar. He
had called Max Muller, the well-known SKT scholar, a “maleccha,” a negative
epithet meaning “barbarian” in Greek. In a letter, appreciating Max Muller’s Rigved’s
translation, Deb had expressed Hindu supremacy with confidence, and kinship with
Aryanism. He explains: “It is indeed strange to study the holy scripture (Rigveda) in
an edition published by a faraway “maleccha” on the banks of the Thames, that this
maleccha was a descendant of Fallen Ksathryas (Hindus Warrior caste) and that his
original kinship with the Hindu race had been confirmed by modern linguistic and
philological research.”
Apparently, his views are rooted in the Hindu myth of human creation in four
castes in India; emigrated whites are fallen Kshtriyas in this scheme. But most
scholars later on had embraced the new German concept of PIE and Aryan (German)
homeland and the dispersal of daughter or PIE/ SKT and the Aryan invasion of India.
Kesub Chandra Sen (1838-1884), who promoted Hindi, as noted earlier, had
also belonged to Bengal during this new phase. He espoused universalism, respecting
all religions, but remained hung up on Aryan racism. A quote from Halbfas266 is
quite lucid: “India and England appear as ‘parted cousins,’ the descendants of two
different families of the ancient Aryan race.” He invited Europe to teach science to
Indians and learn ancient wisdom in exchange. His bias for the supremacy of Hin-
duism was quite clear when he said: “Hinduism alone has been called to lead Chris-
tianity to its universality.” Apparent strains within the Aryan family had also led to
movements opposing the West and against imitating it, Dayananda and Vivekananda
representing this phase. Hindu supremacy, though, remained a common theme.
Swami Vivekananda, however, presented a global all-inclusive Hinduism at
Chicago in 1893, but remained a passionate Aryan. Including Europeans among
263. W. Halbfas (1988), p. 215.

264. Mujeeb Mohammad (1995), p. 521.
265. W. Halbfas (1988), p. 259.
266. Ibid. p. 226.
237
Aryans, he said:267 “The true Aryans are those who have attained a knowledge of
nature and divine self.” These, in his view, were the Indians who preserved the sacred
knowledge within the SKT tradition. He injected a self-esteem among Hindus, calling
Hinduism a universal religion, eternal, infinite, and inclusive of future ideas, a
religion of vedanta. He clearly reacted to the West Asian discovery and loss of India’s
status. He maintained the Indo-centrism and claimed the superiority of Aryans
against non-SKT-speaking malecchas. He thought the idea of Soul to be an Aryan
concept, which malecchas, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians could have never
attained without Aryan’s help. Vivekananda unconsciously promoted hatred against
foreign rulers, meaning clearly Muslims, advising Hindus to have faith. He said:
“Why is it that we 333 million people have been ruled for the last one thousand years
by any and every handful of foreigners who chose to walk over our prostate bodies?
Because they had faith in themselves and we did not.”
Aryanism, according to Dr. Chatterji,268 was mutually respected and prized,
especially by the upper caste. Hindus (Brahmins, Kshatryas), considered as white,
were patronized as “our Aryan brother-mild Hindus,” and were certified then as
Aryan in the first (1871) Indian census. British “pro-Aryan love” was quite explicit,
as noted at the inception of Hindi at FWC. Another example is a commentary by
Alfred C. Lyall,269 a governor of U.P., which reveals a negative feeling for Muslims:
“The presence of Muslims was a permanent obstacle to the creation of an Indian
nation.” Apparently he meant a Hindu nation. But the British modus operandi, divide
and rule, is explicit in several citations from Prof. Chandra’s book. 270 Lord
Elphinston (1858) stated that “divide et impera was an old Roman motto and should
be ours.” Charles Wood, secretary of state, wrote to the Viceroy (1862) that “antag-
onism of Indian races was elements of strength to the British in India. Therefore, a
disassociating spirit should be kept up for, if all India was to unite against us, how
long could we maintain our self.” Another secretary of state, Cross, wrote (1887) to
the Viceroy: “This division of religious feelings is greatly to our advantage.” Another
letter to the viceroy (1925) from Birkenhead stated, “I have placed my highest and
most permanent hope in the eternity of a communal situation.”
Much earlier than 1925, when the British started “balancing,” or “favoring
Muslims,” a powerful force, a political domino, had appeared in Bengal. The group
was the English-educated under-employed Bengali Hindus, who created a major
strain in the Aryan family, the birth of the anti-British freedom movement with the
formation of INC. Bengalis had two agendas, hence the anti-British and anti-Urdu
struggle as we will see. Bengali leadership in INC was viewed with great suspicion
by the British as a “self-centered group” to dominate India. Division of Bengal, a
solution to stop its power, was viewed from this perspective. Home secretary H.H
Risley (1904) justified the plan as follows, according to James Lawrence:271
267. Ibid. pp. 237-238.

268. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 52-53.
270. Chandra Bipan (1993), pp. 237-245.
271. James Lawrence (1997), pp. 347-348.
238
United Bengal is a power; divided Bengal will blunt this power; the scheme can
be justified; Bengal is dense, overpopulated, and needs expansion. By dividing, we
are letting it expand eastwards to swallow Assam. United Bengal, so far, has hurt
the national progress; our other aim is to disrupt the opponents (Hindu national-
ists) of government.
Lord Curzon, who divided Bengal (1905), had even used an offensive
expression, on record, against the Bengalis:
“Bengalis consider themselves as a nation. They are dreaming of a future when
British would leave India and some Bengali Babu (a satirical suffix for “person”) will
become resident of Calcutta’s government house. They do not like any interference
in this dream. If we do not divide now, it will be impossible afterwards. And we will
be making this powerful eastern country, even more powerful, which is likely to be
the source of much more trouble in future.” The British apparently had viewed Ben-
gal as distinct from the Northern Urdu tract called “Hindustan.”
10.10 HINDI’S EXTERNAL HELP
Curzon’s division of Bengal was a milestone. It served two purposes: dilution

of Bengali Hindu power, and a political favor to the Muslim eastern wing (now Bang-
ladesh), an extension of the same divide-and-rule policy. Bengalis may be seen here
as promoting their agenda by converting a regional issue into a national one still
based on communal lines. Historians usually ignore this perspective. The Bengalis’
pro-Hindi struggle is intimately related to the plight of their unemployment and
British inability to create more jobs within Bengal. Conventional wisdom that eco-
nomic interest creates new ideas and revolution is not wrong; as is transparent in the
case of Hindi’s creation by the Bengalis.
Other conventional wisdom that unsolicited support of others/foreigners has a
hidden price tag. A historical unsolicited help and slogan was the political Aryanism;
a foreign people British, from 5000 miles away had attempted to remove 1000-year-
old Muslim oppression, free their “cousins,” and replace the “foreigner’s language”
by Hindu Bengali or Hindi. Bengalis attempted to duplicate this “British game” to
remove Urdu’s/Muslim’s domination by the unsolicited volunteer help to create
“Hindi.” Bengalis “unsolicited support for Hindi, “a powerful rival,” of their own
Bengali, is similar in concept, content, and outcome in the history; hailing from 1000
miles away Bengalis fought anti-Urdu battles in U.P and Punjab. They were later on
joined by another unsolicited non-Hindi/Urdu speaker, a Gujarati-speaking reformer
and the founder of Arya Samaj Daya-nanda.
In this rather emotional struggle of pro-Hindi forces before Bengal’s partition,
one must envision and understand the contrast between a highly educated communal-
minded Hindu-dominated Bengal, a country and entity, and the secular hybrid north,
also called Hindustan, a continuation of Moghul cultural India, but strongly sup-
ported by British.
239
10.11 BENGAL VS. HINDUSTAN
The contrast between the two entities is at the heart of the genesis of contro-
versies, Hindi/Urdu, Hindu/Muslim polemics, and the freedom movement in India.
British Bengal, by a recent historian John Keay,272 is envisioned as the eastern end of
a large Aryan-ruled territory, “Donegal to Bengal.” Ruled by British-Bengali,
Brahmin duo, it had a national language, Neo-Hindu Bengali,273 its own perceived
history and ethos of prosecution/oppression by the Muslims, who, accordingly, had
invaded a vigorous Bengali nation when it was ready to take off as a dominant power
in India. It had its own military glory, having defended itself against two invasions,
i.e., Marhatta and Mughul/Oudh forces, and also participation with British in the sup-
pression of mutiny. Bengal has its own parochial calendar and also had already elimi-
nated the influence of Muslim majority by the latter ’s reduction in job
representation274 (<5%) and blocking them from modern English education, i.e.,
Hindu college of Mohan Roy. Bengal too had the largest number of English literates,
e.g., even as late as 1911, their number 127,234 at Calcutta was five times more than
(25,628) the combined total of Bombay and Madras.
In Bengal jobseekers needed English, Bengali, and merit in examination. The
newly formed political party, INC, (1885) the Kings’ party too, was dominated by
Hindu upper caste Bengalis, also called “Bhandra Lok,” (Noble folks). For example,
in 1896, of 784 delegates of the INC, 605 were Bengalis; 275 Bengal’s major
achievement and/or problem was its lead in education. According to the data (table X
.1) retrieved by David Lilyveld of Columbia University, Bengal had produced 30
college graduates per million between 1864-1885, compared to 6 and 4 in U.P. and
Punjab respectively. And at the high school level 230 in Bengal, to 70 and 80 in U.P.
and Punjab.
The secular North, in contrast, had maintained the old tradition, culture, and
Hindu-Muslim amity. This was also true in the rest of India, especially in U.P., Punjab
and even in Bihar, where Persian and/or Urdu was a must for a job. English literacy
was minimal and was accepted, but not mandatory. White-collar jobs needing edu-
cation were dominated by the traditional Moghul-type bureaucracy, and appointment
was based on selection and personal influence, not merit.
As noted earlier, even in Moghul days Hindus had dominated banking,
financing, and education in a well-balanced system, and no one cared or counted the
number of Muslims or Hindus. The ruling Hindu elite had consisted of upper caste
Hindu Brahmins (6%), Kayasthas (3%), and some Kshtriyas and Merchant/Banking
class, no more than 10-15% at the most. The rest of the population was illiterate and
not dependent on education for jobs. The same is almost true for Muslims, largely
converted Hindus from various castes. Since conversion in Muslim period had rarely
meant any upward mobility in caste/class, the majority of Muslims, at least 85%, had
272. John Keay (2000), pp. 19-29.

273. S. K. Chatterji (1969), p. 256.
274. David Ludden (2002), p. 162.
275. David Ludden (2002), pp. 188-189.
240
stayed within their lower-caste professions that didn’t require literacy, just like with
their Hindu kin or relative. The educated class of Muslims, so-called “Ashraf,”
meaning “noble,” or “Bhadra Lok,” was either a converted Kayastha, Brahmin, or
Kshtriya. This author knows of a whole village, “Nara,” near Allahabad, of Muslims
converted from Kayastha. Thus, in the North and also elsewhere, even the Muslim
educated bureaucracy was drawn from the same class and caste pool. About 10-15%
of the Muslim population called themselves Syeds, Sheikhs, Pathan, etc. Therefore,
very often quoted numbers on Muslim backwardness or Hindus’ advanced status in
the 19th century or even by the 20th century have to be interpreted in perspective.
These proportions cannot be used to represent entire religious communities. Edu-
cation was neither needed/desired or demanded by all, or ever mandated or provided
for all in India, exactly like the current situation in the subcontinent.
Table X.1
Examination Results 1864-1885
HIGH SCHOOL BA EXAM
STATE POPULATION PASS RATE FAIL PASS FAIL
Bengal 69,536,861 16629 (230) 21151 2153 (30) 2776
U.P 44,841,619 3200 (70) 3210 272 (6) 270
Panjab 22,712,120 1944 (80) 2614 107 (4) 129
All
253,891,821 48251 (190) 79504 5108 (20) 5853
India
* 1881 Census
Pass Rate per million
Job and education statistics reveal a comfortable position of Muslims in U.P., a

minority (15%) as compared to Bengali Muslims, a majority; as noted in table X.2 up
to 1/3 of jobs paying Rs. 75/month were held by Muslims right up to 1890s; in Punjab
also Muslims were not badly off though worse than Hindus and in the majority. A
laxity of rules in the hiring practices was also a feature in U.P.,276 e.g., in the 1882-83
revenue department, only four of 77 jobs were filled according to the rules. In 1886-
87, of 521 Gazetted employees in U.P. only 94 (<20%) had high-school diplomas and
241
34 (7%) college degrees; Bengal was a real contrast, with 542 of 628 (85%) with
high-school diplomas and 275 (44%) college degrees.
Table X.2
th
19 Century Job Distribution in NWP or UP
YEAR TOTAL MUSLIM HINDU COMMENT
1850 or earlier n/a (100) n/a (72) n/a (28) Judiciary Jobs
post 1857 n/a (100) n/a (15) n/a (>70) Judiciary Jobs
1867 1025 (100) 333 (33.4) 692 (67.6) * pay ≥ RS 75
1880 n/a (100) n/a (30) n/a (60) * pay ≥ RS 75
1897 1535 (100) 466 (30) 1069 (70) * pay ≥ RS 75
1880 n/a (100) n/a (454) n/a (55) * pay ≥ RS 75

Percentage in ( )
n/a not available
* per month
Thus, one can easily visualize U.P. as an area for job opportunity for highly
educated “underemployed” Bengalis, if somehow English was enforced and/or
Muslim domination eliminated. Also one can only envision as there are no statistics
for the possible difficulties/discrimination faced by the Bengali diasporas suspected
as British collaborators in post-mutiny phase. They lived in major college towns and
railway centers in the North, i.e., Allahabad, Benaras, Delhi, and Lahore, and were
comprised of English-educated employees of private railway companies, professional
teachers, or doctors. Bengalis second and third generation by 1880-90s had to relearn
Urdu/Persian script, hated and abandoned in Bengal, and another reason perhaps to
push for Nagari, which was at least closer to Bengali script. Bengalis had to eschew
also the visible, powerful middle-class Muslims, (an anomaly in Bengal), in
important positions through Urdu/Persian. Muslims were in fact quite visible in land
ownership as well as in white-collar jobs, even after the mutiny. Most of the land-
owners in Bengal were also Hindus.
The solution for the unemployed Bengali really should have included more job
creation, expansion of the economy, and industrialization, which the colonial gov-
ernment could hardly afford; letting loose the communal Genii of Bengal on the north
242
by British was perhaps the only option. Two societies, Allahabad Bengali Association
and Nagari Pracarni Sabha (Nagari Propagation Society of Benaras), jointly
demanded and/or promoted a replacement of the foreign language Urdu/script by the
neo-Hindi of Hindus. This was turned down on four different occasions during 1870-
1898; on the fifth attempt (1900) Hindi was accepted as a second language but
removal of Urdu was refused. In fact, Urdu was vital and irreplaceable.
By their maneuvers, the British came off as great saviors and friends of the
Muslims as well as sympathetic champions of the Hindu cause. Cloaked with pro-
Hindi agenda indirectly and directly through INC also was a major Bengali demand
to implement the job rules requiring English and merit by examination in U.P., tar-
geting the Urdu/Persian-based status quo. As they were politically disruptive and
disastrous and implied replacement of local, by foreign Bengalis; the government had
refused in various scenarios. It was a political failure of Bengal’s communal force’s
inability to alter the job rules.
But the British had achieved their major objective in U.P.: increasing the
Hindu-Muslim gulf, mutual hatred polemics, a firm belief that the Muslim period was
1000-year aberration (slavery) defining British rule as a divine providence to deliver
Hindus and Hinduism, pride in “Hindu” culture/language/script, etc. Most impor-
tantly, they had generated a political culture based on religion/caste. In the pro-Hindi
struggle, just a mask to achieve the above objective (s) the British had greatest help
from two sources; one was their loyal anglophiles civil servant, Bankim Chandra
Chatterji, who took a lead in Hindi promotion as noted earlier. And the other was the
Arya Samaj movement of Dynanda. While these two outsiders (Bengali and Gujrati)
went about their business between 1870-1905, the northern secular alliance, Delhi
College graduates, scientific society members, and Aligarh group, etc., opposed them
to maintain the status quo; they were the yester years conservatives (Hindus and
Muslims) and were led by Syed Ahmad Khan.
10.12 RADICALS OF HINDI MOVEMENT
Dayananda Saraswasti’s Arya Samaj was a reform movement against the

Hindu caste system and icon/idol worship, etc., and propagation of Vedic religion,
against mythical Santana Dharma; but following his long stay in Bengal perhaps it
was radicalized. His “vision” for a future in India, one religion (Hinduism), one
country (Hindustan), and one common language, Hindi, had successfully scared
many Muslims, mindful of the historical precedence of Muslim absorption and also
expulsion from Spain (15-16th century). Arya Samaj had succeeded in propagating
Hindi’s vision as the Hindu language, a vision mission of British statecraft. Punjab
was divided in three script lines Hindi Nagari (Hindu), Urdu (Muslim), and Guru-
mukhi (Sikh); and U.P., along two lines. Dyananda had said that “Hindus of Punjab
and U.P. were not proper Hindus … immersed in the atmosphere of Islam through the
use of Persian/Urdu script.” Obviously he had the Bengali and Gujarati models as the
correct “Hindu credential.” His movement was extremely powerful and divisive but
very attractive to liberal/secular people including many Muslims, because of the
243
reformers focus on modern, scientific, and educational mission inclusive of Vedic

culture.
In the creation of a Hindu/Muslim gulf, besides the role of Dayananda and
others, the British generated divisive history books with negative images of the
Muslim rule. The other major British effort was through Bankim Chatterji, a high-
level civil servant, a deputy collector, was allowed to propagate several of his novels,
which contain sensitive and provocative material as noted by an American scholar
David Ludden recently.277 His job seemed to have been to incite and scare Hindus
and invite Muslim reaction. Bankim had used fictional characters projecting Muslims
oppression on soft and brave Hindu victims. His main message was that foreign
(Muslim) rule might return after the British leave; his indirect message was support
British rule. His novel Rajsimha shows Rajput heroes fighting Muslim oppressors.
Mrnalini reveals a Muslim invasion of Bengal; Durgesh Nandini has a woman killing
a Muslim warrior. Most provocative has been the Anandmath (1882) or “Comfort
Ashram,” which shows Hindu ascetics fighting Muslim armies and exhorting the
audience to struggle against Muslims. Here is some really provocative dialogue:278
“. . .You have achieved your objective; Muslim power is destroyed.
. . . But Hindus are still not a dominant power; Calcutta is still in British hand.
. . . Hey Bhagwan! (Oh God!) If Hindus don’t gain dominance, who will rule?
Will Muslims come back to power again?
. . . I will irrigate the mother (country) land with blood of my enemies;
. . . British are friends as well as rulers.
. . . we have always wanted Muslim government to be destroyed. . . . their city
to be destroyed and they thrown in river; son of swine turned into dust. Time has
come.”
Bankim’s work in essence was to calm agitating anti-British Bengali but had
disseminated the communal virus all over India. The theme song “Bande Mataram,”
or “Salute to the Mother (India),” ever since has been the Hindu national anthem. His
ideas according to Bipan Chandra279 in essence had defined Indian nationhood as
Hindu, a concept by Hindu nationalist parties, RSS or Rashtriya Sevak Sangh and
others. But Bankim ideas were hardly his own as presumed by many historians; but a
loud relay of “his master’s voice” or political Aryanism of EIC-Fort William. “Bande
Mataram” of Anand Math is a copy or an inspiration from Dionysios Solomos’s, “The
hymns to liberty,” and in fact connects the Hindu anti-Muslim struggle to European
anti-Turkish (Muslim) crusaders; this was meant to inspire the Christian monarch to
rise against Turkish infidels.280 Incidentally the concept that Europe and Hindus are
bound somehow in a common destiny against Muslims, though discredited, still lives
on. The effort (s) of Bankim and the British, however, to spread radicalism was suc-
cessful in many ways.
277. David Ludden (2002), pp. 188-189.

278. Rashad Shaz (1999), pp. 86-93.
279. Chandra Bipan (1993), pp. 142-144.
280. Michael Pratt (1978), pp. 156-160.
244
10.13 SECULAR CONSERVATIVE: SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN
In the contemporary secular north, or “Hindustan,” Sir Syed was the only
leader among Hindus and Muslims who defended its socio-economic pie against
communal Bengali onslaught, and he did so successfully. His detractors have called
him separatist and communalist, founder of the two-nation theory and Pakistan,
British agent, flatterer, sycophant, yes man, etc. These characterizations may appear
true to some, if history is viewed from mutiny onward, a defect in most works.
Almost all these adjectives or epithets are Bengali generated and as a matter of fact
truly applicable to them as a hospitable anglophile partner/co-ruler of Aryan Bengal,
along with British for some 100 years prior to mutiny.
Separatism and the two-nation theory is really bound with “Aryan vs. Muslim,”
Hindi’s creation and British policy as noted. The naming of colleges with religious
terms, Muslim and Hindu university, etc. began with Hindu College, Calcutta. This
tradition itself being a British import, e.g., Trinity College, Christ Church, etc. and
even the concept of blocking Muslim’s admission in Hindu College was a British
import too. The famous college, Keble Hertford, had been closed to non-Christians
even in the 20th century.
India and also the Muslim world had only secular names Madarsah-Alia or
Maha Vidyalaya, meaning high or supreme college/university; Nizamia of Baghdad
meant Government College; secular north’s first college was Delhi College, a con-
trast to the contemporary Hindu College. They were open to all communities. Ben-
galis anger toward Sir Syed is quite natural. For example, Bengalis and INC agitated
for examination/merit-based opportunities and also for holding Indian civil service
(ICS) examination in India, besides London. Being most educated in English, they
could be the chief beneficiary of U.P. jobs, and also of the highest paid ICS adminis-
trative positions, dominated by British. (As late as 1909 only 5%, or 65, of 1244 posi-
tions were held by Indians). Syed Ahmad in a meeting (1887) denounced281 the
proposal of INC as “an attempt by frail-bodied Bengali to take over India,” pre-
empting Lord Curzon’s statement as noted before. As opposed to an INC dominated
by communal Bengalis, he had formed a new political group, “United India Patriotic
Association,” another pro-British King’s party like INC, with eminent Hindus like
Raja of Benaras and pro-Hindi activist, Shiva Prasad. Besides Sir Syed others too had
noted the Bengalis ambition for power. Lawrence James in his earlier citation (ref #
271) has commented: “they were a tiny minority, whose ambition had to be actively
discouraged. Most were high caste, whose advancement to positions of authority over
other Indians could exaggerate the existing caste and religious division.”
Sir Syed had always involved Hindus in every venture (chapter IX) including
Aligarh MAOC; his board included 7 of 22 Hindu members. In the scientific society
founded at Gazipur, there were 107 and 85 Muslim and Hindu members respectively.
Hindus of Punjab including even those under communal influence of Arya Samaj had
donated for his cause. One Munshi, Jewan Das, on January 30th 1884 said,282 “We
245
are proud of a man like you, who is devoting himself to the welfare of all Hindus and
Muslim alike.” Another group in Punjab had commented, “Sir Syed is not a friend
and supporter of Muslims only, but of the country as a whole.”
In fact he had felt disgust for the communal politics, had refused to join a
Muslim party of justice Amir Ali of Calcutta and had said, “Gone are the days when
people of the country were regarded as two nations merely on the basis of religion,”
as noted by Dr. Safia Amir.283 He had also regretted, on several occasions, the paro-
chial attitude of some Hindus, who had regarded themselves exclusively as Indian,
and Muslim as foreigners. Even with the provocation and fanaticism of Bankim, Day-
ananda, and communal propagation through history books, Syed Ahmad had kept his
cool and commented:284
“We (Muslims) must however take courage from the fact that the same educa-
tion, which at present teaches our young Hindus to hate Muslims, will one day
make them understand that, until Hindus and Muslims come together and respect
each others feelings, neither community will gain a place of honor in British India.”
He had a solid, impeccable secular personality and separated religion from pol-
itics. In one speech (1873) quoted by Mr. Bhatnagar (ref #282), Syed Ahmad said:
“To be Hindu or a Muslim is a matter of inner faith and belief. It has nothing to
do with worldly matters and mutual social intercourse. India belongs to both of us
(Hindus and Muslims). Both of us breathe the air of India in equal measure, drink
the waters of Ganges and Jamuna. We share the happiness and sorrows of birth and
death in an equal degree. Socially and culturally we have given to and taken from
each other. We have evolved a common language-Urdu. We, by virtue of loving in
the same country, are one nation.”
The man obviously had all the credentials of a natural leader and was the only
of his kind in 19th century India; he was a writer, educationist, and one of the greatest
visionaries produced by India. Sir Syed had learnt the basic utilitarian concept in the
script, having learned at least three, including Hebrew. He perhaps had some
knowledge and understanding of Nagari. He was the only one who could logically
explain the futility of emotionalism involved in pro-Hindi or Nagari crusaders against
Urdu.
10.14 HINDI-URDU DUEL
As the secular Northern group members of scientific society and British Indian
association Hindus, Muslims, and British resolved to organize a vernacular (Urdu)
University (1867), a Bengali organization “Allahabad Institute” threw a surprise and
opened a debate that Hindi-Nagari be recognized as the language of courts, as was
done with Bengali, which had replaced Persian in Bengal. Their position was that
282. S. K. Bhatnagar (1969), pp. 25-28.

283. Safia Amir (2000), pp. 10-13
284. K. H. Qadri and Mathew David (1979), pp. 101-104.
246
Hindi would be most suitable, as the dominant population of U.P. was Hindu (>80%).
This was the first shot at Urdu in the name of religion, and by Bengali immigrants.
Very soon, Raja Shiv Prasad wrote a blatant anti-Muslim article supporting the Hindi
claim and expressed his anglophilism in saying, “The British had come to rescue the
Hindu populations of India from Muslims persecution.” In the proposed Urdu Uni-
versity, the pro-Hindi group demanded that Hindus be taught in Hindi.
Sir Syed kept his cool and argued that Urdu and Hindi are the same language
and represented a synthetic Indian culture. He responded to Mr. Saroda Prasad San-
doval of Allahabad Hindi society in long letters. In the first one (November 1868) he
wrote:
“In my opinion to call Hindi, a composite language written in Nagari script, the
current language of U.P. is mixing the two issues; speaking and writing are two dif-
ferent things. I think the language of court should be the same, which you call
“Hindi,” I like to call it Urdu. And to discuss the script, be it Roman, Persian, or
Nagari for its use, is a sterile issue. If somebody can document definite advantages of
replacing Persian script by Nagari and reassure us that it can be done with no hard-
ships, I will have no objection.”
His approach according to Mr Sheikh Panipati285 was purely utilitarian and left
the room to prove the “utilitarian value” of Nagari script.
In the next letter, Mr. Sandoval complained about the high Persian content of
Urdu and called Hindi “as asli (real or original) zaban (language),” pleading that
replacing Persian by Nagari will help the growth of “the original language,” his
Hindi. In an extensive reply, Sir Syed explained that “the Persian content is dependent
on the individual. A person with a knowledge of Persian would naturally like to
include more Persian words, and the person with no knowledge of Persian would use
simpler less Persianized speech. Similarly, an Englishman knowledgeable in Latin
mixes more of it, and a SKT scholar would tend to mix SKT words in his language.”
Expressing a real surprise on “the original language” of the country, he said: “I fail to
understand if there is anywhere in the world a so-called ‘original or real language.’ I
am, thus, compelled to understand that you mean, the language of this country. You
obviously call this language as Hindi, which I call Urdu.”
Hindi-Urdu issue had overt communal connotation and was getting enormous
attention from Bengali newspapers. Sir Syed around this time had become really sad-
dened by the communal atmosphere. Sir Syed, according to his biographer, Hali, had
said, “This was the first time I was convinced that from now on it will be difficult for
Hindus and Muslims to work together as one nation.”
At Benaras the topic was a hot one, and Sir Syed was discussing Muslims’ edu-
cation with Mr. Shakespeare.
The commissioner, surprised, said, “This is the first time that you (Sir Syed) are
discussing something quite parochial; otherwise you always discuss issues for all
Indians.”
285. Sheikh I. Panipati (1976), pp.258-262.
247
Sir Syed replied, “Now I am convinced that the two people (Hindu and
Muslim) will not participate in any work with willing enthusiasm. It is just the
beginning; I see more opposition and enmity from the so-called educated. Those who
will live will be the witnesses.”
Mr. Shakespeare said, “I will be sad, if your prediction will be true.”
Sir Syed said, “I am also greatly saddened, but I am fully convinced that my
predictions are coming true.”
The two communities continued to work together in massive educational
efforts. Sir Syed gave up the idea of the Urdu University because he was convinced
about the superiority of English as a medium.
But the Urdu-Hindi issue had kept its own pace. His friend, Jai Kishendas, the
secretary of the Scientific Society, received demands to switch to a Hindi medium
from some Hindu members of Allahabad. Sir Syed felt disappointed, and responded
as follows: (recorded by Bhatnagar in reference #34)
“If Babu Shiv Prasad’s proposal to have English books translated into Hindi
instead of Urdu at the Scientific Society was adopted, it would divide Hindus and
Muslims forever. It may prove a blessing in disguise to Muslims in the long run, but
as he had the good of the whole India of both Muslims and Hindus, at least, he
would not tolerate the division.”
10.14.1 Second Round 1870s
The issue remained an important one in the early seventies, on his return from
England. Hunter’s reports, critical of “Muslim loyalty,” were on the headlines making
the Hindu-Muslim gulf even wider. A few comments as quoted by Lilyveld were:
“Hindus are the real natives of this country,” and are of “superior intellect,” and
Muslims, their “deadliest or arch-enemies.”
Hindi protagonists made another attempt against Urdu. They had achieved a
major success in 1871 in Bihar in getting Persian script replaced by so-called
“Kaithy,” a cursive type resembling Bengali, for administrative use. The pretext was
a meeting of the Scientific Society at Bhagalpur, Bihar, with Governor G. Campbell
of Bengal province and Anthony McDonald, the collector-magistrate, as the guest. A
welcome address was presented to him in Persianized-Urdu. In reply, the governor
said he “did not comprehend” and additionally characterized Urdu as “a bastard lan-
guage not of this country.” An ordinance within a few days was passed for the use of
“Kaithy” to replace Urdu. Many Hindus and Muslims attempted to intervene and
have it postponed but in vain. It was a nice stroke to divide Muslims and Hindus,
even at the cost of the bureaucratic turmoil that followed.
Next was the turn of U.P. The pro-Hindi committee of Allahabad collected
thousands of signatures on a representation to the governor of U.P. to replace Urdu.
Proponents put new points in their support: Muslims with Persian script have an
advantage, as it is the script of the Quran. But Governor S. Frachey turned it down.
His position was “purely utilitarian,” Urdu is Persian script and had a much wider
usage than Nagari. An Urdu-defense central committee also came into existence,
headquartered at Allahabad, with Sir Syed as its secretary (1873). Its position was
248
that “Urdu is not inherently Muslim; its substitution would be disruptive and put
Muslims at a disadvantage. All the committee members, Muslims themselves, voted
for Urdu’s continuation. One of the members, Syed Bilgrami, had voted in favor of
Hindi; Bilgrami was a well-known scholar of SKT and Marathi and had taught at
Cambridge.
10.14.2 Third Round 1880s
Pro-Hindi committees became openly communal and styled themselves as rep-

resentative of Hindus. They expanded into Punjab and roped in Ayra Samaj, the
Hindu revivalist party. A massive signature campaign, petitions in U.P. and Punjab
and long memoranda by various (all Hindu) committees converged (1882), pleading
for Nagari-Hindi as an educational issue. Urdu defense committees as well presented
counter-arguments before the commission. The commission, however, made no
decision. Sir Syed, then a member of viceroy legislative council, had impressed the
commission that the issue was a grave one and beyond the commission’s scope on
education; it had political and governance implications.
10.14.3 Fourth Round 1890s
The most explosive problem of the time, the Hindi-Urdu issue, had become a
clear Hindu-Muslim issue, the two competing for a vision of a future national lan-
guage of independent India, partitioned or united. Urdu’s proponents (it had been the
national language for about a century) maintained a non-parochial secular view, syn-
cretic, Indian, and all-inclusive. Pro-Hindi groups had always projected a separatist
view that their language was Aryan-Hindu and should displace the foreign script in
the largely Hindu-Aryan country. In the short run, the clear objective obviously was
for jobs, which relatively more Muslims had (table-x.1). Hindi proponents again
(1898) petitioned the governor at Allahabad, then Sir Anthony MacDonald, who was
formerly in Bihar when Urdu was replaced by Kaithi. The petition required the
replacement of Urdu and Persian script from all government offices and the judiciary
by Hindi-Nagari. Syed Ahmad, “sick at the time,” wrote clearly blaming Hindus “for
communal prejudice,” and pointing out two reasons for their enthusiasm. The first,
the sympathetic governor with known anti-Urdu bias and, second, Muslims having
had bad press and considered as “ungrateful,” after Hunter’s book. He additionally
pointed out in his article the “utilitarian values” and superiority of Urdu and its script.
The governor turned down the request as he saw no reason for the switch, but his
reply to Hindus was not entirely hopeless as follows.
10.14.4 Fifth Round 1900
Two years after Sir Syed’s demise (1898), Anthony MacDonald, having had
another look at the renewed request finally passed a resolution, in April 1900,
accepting Hindi-Nagari as an alternate or additional language along with the official
language Urdu. MacDonald was a realist and could not risk disrupting the state
machinery by removing Urdu. Urdu’s usage remained popular among both Hindus
and Muslims. High-profile Hindu and Muslim writers and poets of Urdu like Prem
249
Chandra, Akbar Chakbast etc., remained in high gear in the 20th century, as we will
see in later chapter. Communal-minded Hindus, however, did not perceive this as a
complete success, as their emotional dream, “Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan,” remained a
dream.
The British were fully exposed as having used Aryanism in statecraft for a full
century in their divide-and-rule policy. They were perceived by Hindus as projecting
a pro-Muslim tilt at the end of 19th century and later.
10.15 LINGUISTIC RACISM AND FREEDOM MOVEMENTS
Sir Syed’s dire prediction of future Hindu-Muslim disharmony because of the

linguistic division, which led to partition, came out to be so true. His efforts, though,
were to prevent it by promoting religious amity and linguistic cooperation in the
North. Communalism, or the British knife, however, had already divided the hearts of
Hindus and Muslims in Bengal for 100 years prior to mutiny. The linguistic knife still
confined to Bengal had not yet touched the mutineers in 1857, but it did later. The
secular and modern social order evolving at Delhi/U.P./Punjab eventually was eroded
by the pressures from “Golden Bengal.”
The British really had their way in generating enough hatred between the two
communities in the 19th century, driving the politics of the 20th century. Tagore, the
Nobel laureate, a Hindu Bengali, had confessed the fault of his own community
hatred, of Muslims. “The root of evil lay in the social tradition of Hindus which led
them to treat Muslims as inferior.” The histories of communalism and/or freedom
movements by Chandra, Tarachand, Nehru, etc., focus only on political compulsions
of three, the British, Hindus and Muslims, an analysis of observation dealing with
symptoms. Logical history has to be integrative and focused on etiology, as noted by
Tagore. Linguistic racism, national racism, and regional political ambition constitute
the etiology, language being the major factor.
The follow-up history after Bengal’s division and reunion is really dominated
by Sir Syed-type secular leaders—Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi, Iqbal, and Lajpat Rai, all
non-Bengalis, western-educated with a modern outlook, legal experts, like Sir Syed.
The capital shift to Delhi (1911) had freed up the politics from the communal
influence of Calcutta. But Bankim’s ideologues, incarnates RSS and Hindu Maha
Sabha (HMS), continued to maintain the separatist views on Hindi and Urdu, as we
will see in the next chapter.
The chapter deals with the creation of Neo-Hindi for Hindus with overt
political and communal intention by the British in Bengal, a communalized Aryan
entity which arose following Sir William’s SKT discovery. It outlines the struggle
between the secular North and its Urdu, Hindu-Aryan, and Bengal diasporas. The
chapter reviews this struggle, driven by communal Bengalis using Hindi as a weapon,
supported by the British who are exposed as the exploiters of language and religious
250
differences, a vital element to their own survival. The chapter also examines the role
of Sir Syed Khan, a secular leader and promoter of peace, and the way he protected
Urdu and the North from communal exploitation. An important part of the chapter
deals with the unsuccessful Hindu struggle to uproot Urdu from India and replace it
by Hindi.
251
CHAPTER XI. PARTITION OF LANGUAGE, LAND, AND
HEARTS
11.0 INTRODUCTION
The utilitarian concept of Sir Syed in script and the hybrid Indianness of Urdu/
Hindi as “one language, neither Hindu nor Muslim” was not concordant with the
British statecraft and Hindu nationalism. Sir Syed apparently was far ahead of his
time as is borne out by later linguistic discoveries for after his death at the turn of the
century almost all politicians had absorbed the official view of SKT/DNS/Hindi as
Aryan-Hindu and/or Indian and Urdu/APS as foreign and Muslim. In this mutually
accepted paradigm, the adoption of a local Hindi/DNS made a bit of a sense. It looked
so natural and easy that by exchanging just the Urdu script by DNS, the Hindi lan-
guage could step in Urdu’s shoes as the national/administrative language along with
English, But its basic fault was religious romanticism, lack of utilitarian merit in
Hindi, overt anti-Muslim reactionary zeal, and ignoring the use of linguistics in
political instigation by British. So while the Hindu nationalists kept their focus on
Hindi for Hindus, the western-educated secular Hindu politicians focused more on
English. They had, in fact, discovered the real face of British politics under the Aryan
mask. Putting the language issue on the back burner, they had joined with Muslims in
an active freedom movement against the British. The Aryan brotherhood came under
strain outside of India also. Its godfathers, the Germans, had embraced Muslim
Ottomans against the “Aryan brothers,” Britain and France, in WWI.
But most significantly the whole concept of PIE/Aryan and Semitic races and/
or scripts was exposed as mythical and non-historic by voluminous discoveries in the
Mesopotamian cradle (Chapter III-IV), revealing the common origin of the three
scripts. In this revolutionary phase, British scholars had also deciphered Asokan
script linking it to Aramaic and unsettling the religious myth of SKT.
By the 1930s, as reviewed in Chapters IV-V, the independence of DR and
Austric-Munda from SKT in grammar, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary was
253
pretty well established. But the idea of mother SKT and/or Aryan race perhaps a
political necessity has been maintained up till now.
11.1 BRITISH LEGACY AND POLITICS
Two nuclear powers, and among the world’s poorest and corrupt countries,
India and Pakistan, often blame British rule or slavery for many of their ills; this is
surely understandable and debatable. What is not debatable is the “intellectual
slavery” to the British legacy of linguistic racism. It is manifested in the Hindu/
Muslim hatred of the highest intensity, a pride in belief for in being a member of the
white European Aryan race, persistent Indocentrism, with the attitude of ignoring
contributions of other civilizations, especially Mesopotamia, and the dogma that
scripts have religious Islamic or Hindu origin. The script charade in fact divides the
largest body of humans anywhere into at least two mutually illiterate camps, unable
to read each other’s handwriting while enjoying mutual conversations. The division
of language and heart actually drove the division of land, or India’s partition, which is
usually lamented by many South Asians now. A review of events leading to the par-
tition includes three major linguistic debacles: the replacement of Urdu by Hindi in
partitioned India; the anti-Hindi revolution of 1960s; and anti-Urdu politics of Bang-
ladesh.
11.2 MOVERS AND SHAKERS, THE LEADERS
Two groups of politicians can be discerned after Bengal’s reunion: the pre-
venters of partition and the promoters of partition. Most of secular and non-secular
Muslim and Hindus belonging to INC and ML and Hindu Maha Sabha (HMS), or
Grand Hindu party, acted as preventers up to 1937-40. Some non-secular Hindu
nationalists who were opposed to Muslims’ political rights had Aryan Bengal model
in mind ruled by upper-caste Hindus. They were the Bankim’s inspirees, members in
INC and HMS and members of the militant RSS and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) of
Messrs. Sarvarkar, Hegdewar, Golwalkar, and Bajpai etc. They can be called spoilers
and/or promoters because of their anti-Muslim stance while knowing they could
never prevent Muslims’ secession in the majority areas, now Pakistan and Bang-
ladesh. But many prominent players identified with the Hindu right were among the
preventers, e.g., B.J. Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malviya, members in both
INC and HMS accommodative of Muslim needs. For the backwardness of Muslims,
there was a general acceptance and consensus. Secular/liberals, M. L. Nehru, J. L.
Nehru, T. B. Sapru, and M. K. Gandhi, were determined preventers, willing to make a
reasonable and fair deal with the Muslims.
Unable to reach a deal with ML, this group in the end (1945-46) became a pro-
moter. In the Muslim camp, seculars M. A. Jinnah, Sir Allama Iqbal, Liaquat Ali,
Hasrat Mohani and other members of INC and ML, were all determined preventers.
They were usually non-pan-Islamist, modern, western-educated, and non-orthodox
type. This most powerful group of ML, unable to reach a deal with INC, had also
254
Chapter XI. Partition of Language, Land, and Hearts
turned into promoters after 1937-40 with “success.” The other orthodox group,
mostly pan-Islamist, religious, and some seculars like Abul Kalam Azad, R.A.
Kidwai, Shibli Nomani, Hasan Nizami, Zakir Hussain, collectively lumped as the
“Nationalist Muslims” with INC, remained determined preventers but followed the
INC line.
The British were perhaps the most determined promoters. There is a sense out
there that the whole thing might have been an Anglo-American script to stop com-
munism, which was about to take over China after Russia; and India might be the
next.
Socialism/communism, a positive vector in itself, a preventer and champion of
masses and Hindu-Muslim unity inspired J.L. Nehru, Iqbal and hundreds of Urdu and
Hindi writers who had formed the “Progressive Writers Movement” (PWM) which
included many communists. But the idea was discredited with Russia’s own collabo-
ration with capitalism in the war and the controversial position of the “Russian Com-
munist Party” which had equated the demand for Pakistan with the liberation
movement. A short review of the critical episodes is as follows.
11.3 EVENTS, EPISODES AND EXHORTATIONS
The British, after 1911, had just 35 years to manage two world wars, run a
rather chaotic India after angering the Bengalis, face a strong freedom movement,
concede reforms, and train Indians in the art of democracy; a rather full plate, to their
credit. After Bengal’s partition another pro-Muslim tilt included the formation of ML
and giving an “advantage” to Muslims, who could elect their own leaders for seats
allotted to Muslims disproportionate to their population. It was known as a “Separate
Electorate.” The Lucknow Pact of 1916 between Hindu and Muslim leaders, Jinnah,
Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Hasrat Mohani, and M. L. Nehru, in the midst of World War I, had
unnerved the British when the group launched the freedom movement led by
aggressive extremists, Tilak, Mohani, and Rai. INC, still a king’s party, was forced to
expel them. A new arrival, M. K. Gandhi, provided some moderation and even helped
the British with recruitment efforts among Hindus. Gandhi had a grand, romantic
vision of removing the caste system and working for Hindu-Muslim unity. For the
latter, his advocacy and support of pan-Islamist Muslims for saving Turkey’s
“khilafat,” or “nominal spiritual leadership of Muslims” (never recognized by Sir
Syed or even the Moghuls) brought him significant support from the “nationalist
Muslim,” but opposition and anger from the Hindu rightists, secular Jinnah, and the
British.
The British response was perhaps a nod for the formation of militant RSS in
1920s and follow-up divisive communal riots. But the cooperation of INC and ML
(1937) followed and a Joint Election bid lead to INC victories. However, INC’s
refusal to share power in the UP and alleged “pro-Hindu” policies of state-govern-
ments, including pushing Hindi against Urdu,286 broke the unity which resulted in the
286. Ian Stephens (1964), p. 93.
255
resignation of the INC government in the wake of World War II. INC opposed the war
efforts by launching the “Quit India” movement, while ML gained Anglo-American
sympathy for its cause, “Pakistan,” by supporting the war efforts. The final act was
the failed negotiation/peace efforts between Gandhi and Jinnah.
The leaders were in fact powerless against the accumulated mutual distrust and
hatred among masses of the two communities. Almost all secular leaders had worked
towards Hindu-Muslim unity, as we will see, but the masses, especially the educated
petty bourgeois “radicalized” by communalists and supported by the British political
interests foresaw its comfort and interests better served by religious nationalism and
partition.
Most historians, including liberals like Bipin Chandra and Tarachand, largely
ignore this Aryan brotherhood phase of hundred years. Lala Lajpat Rai,287 a liberal
communalist seems to be alone in recognizing that “in the first phase of British rule
Muslims were suppressed and now (1920-30s) they are being patted.” In contrast to
anti-Muslim Bengalis like Bankim Chatterji, Rai (1916) characterized the Muslim
rule not as foreign, but a composite Indian enterprise of Hindus and Muslims as
follows: “the only foreign rule in India ever had been British rule as every other
group including Muslims had come to become Indian. Muslim governments were
Indian governments; Muslims were born and died here and had no other country to
drain out India’s wealth. Hindu-Muslim differences were religious and never
political. The worst Muslims were not racist like the British, though racism did exist
among Hindus and Hindus as well as among Muslims and Muslims. India’s Muslim
was a purely Indian phenomenon; Muslim and Hindu Indians had fought against
Muslim invaders such as Taimur, Babar, and Nadir Shah, etc.”
The British response, besides the sectarian riots, also included scaring Hindus
through HMS/RSS leaders, who talked of an impending Muslim rule similar to
Bakim’s writing: RSS never opposed British rule, according to Dr.Goel288 and Mr.
Prakash. 289 Muslims too were radicalized to fear re-conversion to Hinduism,
expulsion, or extermination. The British received some critical and timely help by a
book by Kathryn Mayo (1925-26) of the United States titled Mother India to scare the
Hindus.
Lala Lajpat Rai quickly brought out his Unhappy India, a point-by-point
rebuttal of Mayo’s ideas. In her chapter 29, Sons of Prophet, she wrote that “Muslims
are loyal to British, and Hindu-Muslim differences are great sheet anchor of British
policy and foundation of British rule.” Furthermore, she wrote that if the British were
to leave India “immediate hell would follow in the first days of which, Bengali and all
his tribes will be removed from the earth.” According to Rai, Mayo adds, “without
the British no Hindu will remain in India except such as we keep slaves.” She had a
clear political motivation to help the British, but she did point out the Bengalis as a
vulnerable group, revealing her political insight and understanding of their role in
anti-Muslim politics. In fact, mutual hatred between the two communities was/is a
287. Lala Rajpat Rai (1928), pp. 405-412.

288. D. R. Goel p. 104.
289. Virendra Prakash (2002), pp. 85-89.
256
given part of growing up. All parents teach their children a certain political bias. In
the sub-continent, at least among the educated group, each child grows up with a bias
against the other community. Nirad C. Chowdhary,290 a liberal Bengali, noted:
“Even before we could read we had been told that the Muslim had once ruled
and oppressed us, that they had spread their religion in India with the Koran in one
hand and a sword in the other, that the Muslim rulers had abducted our women,
destroyed our temples, polluted our sacred places.”
Thus the youths primed at home could become excellent volunteers of RSS.
The same process was used to brainwash the Muslim youths, to whom Hindus were
portrayed as subjugated, heathen, infidels, or kafirs. History books written by the
British played a crucial divisive role, as noted by both Sir Syed and Gandhi, who
complained about the books, stating:291
“Communal harmony could not be permanently established in our country as
long as highly distorted versions of history were being taught in her schools and
colleges through the history textbooks.”
The “distorted versions” were best sold by the RSS in the field. Muslims were
even compared with German Jews. M. S. Golwalkar, 292 an RSS Chief, said of
Hitler’s holocaust against Jews, “as a lesson for us to learn from and profit.” He also
openly projected his well-known recommendation for the Muslims:
“The non-Hindu people in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and
language, must learn to respect and revere Hindu religion, must entertain no idea
but the glorification of the Hindu nation,” and then ends by saying “…in one word
they must cease to be foreigners, or may stay in this country wholly subordinated to
the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential
treatment, not even citizens’ rights.”293
Prof. Goel’s study of the RSS as well as the review by Mr. Prakash clearly
reveals that RSS had followed a pro-British policy, which was also meant to scare
Hindus. During the peak of communal rioting in Calcutta (1946), the RSS had circu-
lated a rumor about “Muslim plans to stage a coup and establish Muslim Rule in
India.”294
Secular groups on either side had a critical mission to neutralize the radicalized
masses in their own camps. Gandhi’s attempt to gain common ground with them
(RSS cadres) was through his frequent religious indulgence like fasting, abstinence
(Brahmcharya), quoting the Gita, vegetarianism, use of the term “Ram Raj” for
future, free India. But his “Ram Raj” was inclusive of equal rights for all, the
untouchables and Muslims. This remained a bone of contention between him and the
RSS. Hindu-Muslim unity, the single most important mission, was championed by all
290. Nirad C. Choudhary (1988).

291. Chandra Bipan (1993), p. 210.
292. M. S. Golwalkar (1938), p. 27.
293. M. S. Golwalkar (1938), p. 52.
294. D. R. Goel, p. 109.
257
those who were secular. Jinnah had become famous because of this theme, even
before Gandhi’s arrival. Gandhi, recognizing Jinnah’s precedence wrote,295
“For me the immediate question before the country is the Hindu-Muslim ques-
tion. I agree with Mr. Jinnah that Hindu-Muslim unity means swaraj (self-govern-
ment). I see no way of achieving anything in this afflicted country without a lasting
heart unity between Hindus and Musalmans of India. I believe in the immediate
possibility of achieving it, because it is so natural, so necessary for both and because
I believe in human nature.”
Gandhi, too, had realized the merits of socialism even by practicing it in South
Africa in his own communes/ashrams. As a potential solution for Hindu-Muslim and
other fault lines, socialism did seem attractive, as it did to Nehru. Gandhi wrote
(1931), as quoted by Mr. Prakash:296
“I shall work for an India in which the poorest still feel that it is their country in
whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there will be no high
class or low class of people, an India in which all communities shall live in perfect
harmony.”
Jinnah, too, consistently maintained a similar position up to 1940. At a session
of the Muslim League (1924), Jinnah stated his aims: “To organize the Muslim com-
munity, not with a view to quarrel with the Hindu community, but with a view to unite
and cooperate with it for their motherland.” As late as 1936297 at Lahore he said, “My
sole and only objective has been the welfare of my country. I assure you that India’s
interest is and will be sacred to me and nothing will make me budge an inch from that
position.” And in another speech at Calcutta University (1936) Jinnah said,
“Remember India cannot make any progress and India’s salvation lies in the unity of
all communities, especially Hindus and Muslims.” For good or bad, the 1937 election
and World War I I changed the equation. Jinnah and ML borrowed a page from
Bankim and Dayananda’s “Separatist two-nation theory,” a hundred-year-old genie,
the political Aryanism of Calcutta. ML embraced Urdu as “Muslims’ language” for
the first time. But soon after partition Jinnah reverted back to his modern secularism.
As the head of state of the new country, Pakistan, he said,
“You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques …. In the
state of Pakistan … you may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has noth-
ing to do with the business of the state …. We are starting with this fundamental
principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state.”
In another speech298 he urges cooperation and asks to remove inequality and
poverty as well as the differences of caste, creed, and color.
“We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all that angulari-
ties, of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Mus-
295. D. R. Goel, p. 38.

296. Virendra Prakash (2002), pp. 178-179.
297. Chandra Bipan (1993), pp. 342-343.
298. M. A. Jinnah (1948), pp. 9-10.
258
lim community – because even as regards Muslims, you have Pathans, Punjabis,
Shias, Sunnis, and so on, and among Hindus, you have Brahmins, Vashiyas, Khatris,
also Bengalees, Madrasis, and so on – will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been
the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence,
but for this we would have been free people long time ago.”
Incidentally, various Indian meta-analysts have exonerated Jinnah, often
labeled as “the father of the two-nation theory.” A recent editorial in the Times of
India credited Bankim Chatterji299 for it, but as reviewed in this book, Bankim was
only relaying his master’s voice: the British voice. Jinnah, in fact, also reveals a
socialistic trend, like others who had been inspired in Europe, like Nehru, Gandhi,
and Iqbal. Actually socialism has had an intimate bond with modern Urdu literature
and almost all writers were members of the PWM.
11.4 PROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ MOVEMENT
(Taraqqi Pasand Musannefeen)

The echoes of European socialism and the Russian Revolution (1917) had
inspired the bleeding hearts, Urdu writers, champions of the poor and laborers. In
India, British capitalists and their cooperators, Indian industrialists and INC mod-
erates, businessmen, and orthodox religious leaders, had found common ground
against the so-called “red menace.” And the communist party of India (1921), which
predicted an Indian revolution, had invited INC to lead such a revolution.300 Hasrat
Mohani, a famous poet and a communist, even drafted a resolution for full indepen-
dence, angering moderates, Gandhi and M. L. Nehru, but J. L. Nehru and Jai Prakash
Narain, the socialists in INC, were impressed.
Inspired by the prosecution of the leftist poets and writers by fascist regimes in
Europe, a few young students in the UK formed a progressive writers’ group led by
Sajjad Zahir, with Mulk Raj Anand as its president. A manifesto invited all pro-
gressive, anti-capitalist writers to unite on one platform.301 On his return to India
(1935), Sajjad Zahir formed a core group at Allahabad, consisting of Ahmad Ali and
Firaq Gorakhpuri, both from the English Department at the university, Dr. Aejaz
Husain of the Urdu Department, Hindi writer Shivdan Singh Chauhan, and Narendra
Sharma. Blessed by the then Vice Chancellor Amar Nath Jha and historian Dr. Tara
Chand, this group was soon joined by the famous writers, Prem Chandra, Maulvi
Abdul Haq, poet Josh Malihabadi, and Jawahar Lal Nehru. The manifesto had
focused on human rights, poverty alleviation, social justice, freedom from slavery,
and struggle against religious bigotry. Munshi Prem Chandra was elected its first
President in July 1936. PWM represented all languages and had branches all over
India with main centers at Allahabad, Lucknow, Aligarh, Bombay, Delhi, Lahore, and
Calcutta. Its members included almost all the famous poets, namely Faiz Ahmed
299. Times of India, April 2002, “Two Nations Gujarat.”

300. Rahman Azmi Khalil-ur (2002), pp. 22-24.
301. Ibid. p. 34.
259
Faiz, Iqbal, Tagore, Ali Sardar Jāfri, Majaz, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Kaifi Azmi,
Krishan Chandra, Rajendar Singh Bedi, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Sahir Ludhianvi,
Kanahiya Lal Kapoor, and hundreds of others, including many from the film industry
and college campuses. PWM had supported Hindustani in Roman script as the future
national language but also accepted the other two scripts.
The failure of India and Pakistan to adopt communism or socialism resulted in
major problems, especially for the communist members. Sajjad Zahir and Faiz
Ahmed Faiz were jailed in Pakistan although the communist party survived in India.
Most of the writer members maintained their literary work through literature, show
business, and journalism. The PWM was dissolved in 1956.
11.5 URDU/HINDI DEBACLE AND FOLLOW-UP
When partition became a potential reality around 1946, the simplified language
“Hindustani” proposed by INC and PWM saw its days numbered; the script question
that had dogged most secularists remained unsettled. But, for the Hindu nationalists,
Hindustani was just another mask to continue Muslims’ Urdu. Powerful nationalist,
Sarvarkar, had remarked, as quoted by Raj Mohan Gandhi,302 “Hindustani must be
ruthlessly suppressed … it is our bounden duty to oust out … all unnecessary alien
words from every Hindu tongue. Nagari script along with Hindi language must be
made a compulsory subject in every school in the case of Hindu students.” But
Gandhi’s choice, “Hindustani,” in either script even after the partition was well-
known and publicized.17 He was naturally hated by the nationalists because of his
persistence with Hindu-Muslim unity even after the vivisection of their Mother India.
Urdu thus continued in its official position in largely Hindu India for at least another
two years. Gandhi had seemed to be the main roadblock against Urdu’s replacement
by Hindi. For Hindu nationalists, Gandhi’s support of Urdu was only one of the “anti-
Hindu” sins. Others included fasting until death against Muslims’ massacres in Delhi
and forcing Mr. V. B. Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister, to pay Pakistan’s share of
cash (Rs.500 million), which he was opposed to paying, much to the delight of the
Hindu nationalists. Above everything else, and despite the acrimony and bloodshed,
Gandhi considered Pakistan as one of his two homes. He was even ready to fly there
to live on February 7, 1948, but a week earlier, the roadblock was removed against
Hindi. A Hindu fanatic killed him on January 30, 1948.
The constituent assembly of India passed a bill (September 1949) to replace
Urdu by its twin Hindi as the official language of India. Urdu was retained as one of
the 13 national languages and English was given a lease of 15 years to be replaced by
Hindi. The passage of the Hindi bill by just one vote, and even opposed by the then
Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, had revealed a powerful support for Urdu among
Hindus, whose effort to keep Urdu even as a second language was futile. It was obvi-
ously anti-Muslim vengeance. One Hindu member, Lala Lal Kunwal, a distraught
refugee from Pakistan, had made an impassioned appeal against the bill. He said,303
302. Raj Mohan Gandhi (1997), pp. 333-339.
260
“I, like most Punjabis (Hindu), have suffered grievously in a variety of ways on
account of partition, but that should not make me forgetful of our duty towards the
country. We should also not forget that the father of the nation (Gandhi) during his
lifetime freely and unreservedly expressed himself in favor of Hindustani.”
The pro-Hindi brigade was led by the Allahabad group from Hindi Sahitya
Sammilan, or Hindi Literary Society and its supporters, P. D. Tandon, R. S. Shukla
and V. B. Patel, all Hindu nationalist sympathizers. R. S. Shukla remarked, as quoted
by Dr. Hasan, “We must build a strong nation on the solid foundation of a single
national language and a single national script.”304
Through various acts and bills, Urdu was removed in schools in the states of
U.P, Bihar, and elsewhere, but not in Kashmir. Hindi had become a compulsory
subject all over India by 1954. In the next few decades, Urdu had exclusively become
a Muslim issue tied up with the political issues of poverty, jobs, personal laws, etc.,
but because of the democratic setup, Urdu has gradually regained some status in the
school system and as a second official language in U.P and Bihar.
The installation of Hindi in the North justifiable by statistics is quite under-
standable. But the communal mindset, Hindu nationalism, and Gandhi’s murder were
certainly beyond any rationalism. The vision of a Hindu nation and its visionaries,
RSS/HMS, had kept up the anti-Muslim and anti-Urdu tirade even decades later.
RSS’ mouthpiece, the weekly organizer, ran a piece. In this article titled “Let Not
Another Pakistan be in the Name of Urdu,” the organizer stated,305 “The import and
significance of the word “Urdu” is so derogatory to national self-respect that it sup-
presses all emotional upsurge in favor of the language. How and why should we own
a language, the very name of which constantly reminds us of our political subju-
gation? Hindu ancestors passed on SKT and Hindi to their descendants. They had
nothing to do with the transmission of Urdu.”
With the advent of BJP, an RSS political front, as a ruling party in late 1990s,
Urdu’s position has changed slightly. BJP seemed to play “fair king” to all. The Times
of India, reporting on a seminar on Urdu a few years ago (2002),306 stated that the
President of India had reminded of the promise of the father of the nation, Gandhi,
and his preferred national language with both scripts. BJP’s friendly Chief Minister of
Kashmir had reminded the audience that calling Urdu the language of Muslims was
wrong. Another Minister, Salman Khusheed, had even recommended teaching Urdu
in schools at the primary level. About a year prior to this seminar, Dr. M. M. Joshi,
BJP leader and former Minister of Human Resources, had spoken in the parliament
encouraging Urdu Studies. Mr. Joshi had announced a fourfold increase in the budget
for the Urdu Council, increased support for Urdu Science teachers, and Urdu com-
puter centers as reported by the Times of India.307
303. Mushirul Hasan (1997), p. 157.

304. Ibid. p. 34.
305. D. R. Goel, pp. 222-223.
306. The Times of India. “Plight of Urdu.” February 9, 2000.
307. Times of India, December 16, 2002.
261
The change in the attitude of Hindu nationalists does reveal their maturation,
but they still maintain and preach the old Aryan line, “SKT, the mother of all,” as part
of Hindu nationalism masked by Indian culture.
11.5.1 GANDHI’S TWINS – URDU/HINDI
Gandhi’s personal experience, his upbringing in both Hindu and Muslim cul-
tures, foreign education, and South African career among Muslims and a diverse
Indian diaspora had made him unique in history. With the knowledge of nine lan-
guages, including Latin, French, Tamil, SKT, Urdu, Hindi, Gujrati, Marathi, and
perhaps Persian, Gandhi had a “utilitarian” non-religious perspective of languages.
But his adoption of “Hindustani” and its two scripts, a compromise towards Hindu-
Muslim unity, was pragmatic as well as a romantic exercise. Perhaps, like others, he
too miscalculated that the Dravidians would subordinate their much older language in
the name of Hindu identity. His view on “Hindustani” clashed with Allahabad’s pow-
erful Hindi Sahitya Sammelon.308 Gandhi, President of the Sammelon, resigned from
its membership in 1945. He disliked Sanskritized Hindi as well as Persianized Urdu
and loved simple poems as exemplified by poet Iqbal’s famous national anthem of
India:
“Sārey jahan se accha Hindustan hamāra

Ham bulbulain hain us ki voh gulsitan hamāra
[India is the best in the whole world

It is our garden and we (are) its nightingales]
Gandhi had commented on the language issue using the above stanza as
follows:
“On hearing this anthem of Iqbal, who is the Indian whose heart will not throb?
If his heart does not throb, I will consider him as unfortunate. What shall I call this
poem, Hindi, Hindustani, or Urdu? Who can say there is no national language in it,
or it lacks sweetness, or high ideas? It’s fine if I am alone with this idea, but it is
clear, though, that SKT-packed Hindi will never win, nor Persianized Urdu; the
winner can only be Hindustani. Whenever we will forget the internal bitter feel-
ings, then only shall we forget this artificially created issue and be ashamed.”
Gandhi had spoken for this variety of unified language on many occasions,
even after partition; one of his statements is widely quoted:309
308. Syed Amjad Husain (1997), pp. 181-183.

309. M. H. Khan (1993), pp. 50-52.
262
“It seems that question of national language has become a contentious issue.
What should be the national language? I have been told that it will be Hindi, which
will be written in Dev Nagari script. I can never be agreed on this. I had been the
President of Sahitya Sammelan twice. I cannot be the enemy of Hindi or Urdu. But I
have understood it well that the people’s language can only be a compound of the
two and be written in Dev Nagari and Persian script.”
Gandhi, in fact, did have some proficiency in Urdu script. A reproduced

specimen (fig XI.1.) reveals a fair amount of Persian-Arabic words (underlined) and
written in bolder font. It runs as follows:310
“Tum ne meri bahes dekhein thi sach bt yeh hai ke mein ne kabhi aiesa nahein
kaha hai. Mein ne jo kaha tha voh chapa hai, mein nikal ke bhej sakta hon, kya kiya
jiey? Akhbron mein mere barey mein bahut see ghalat btein likhi jti hai agar kal tak
rahna hai to
j-ow kuch bt karengey aur kuch bataonga.”
[You have seen my discussion. The truth is that I have never said this. What I
said is in print; I can send a copy. What can be done? Many wrong things are writ-
ten in the newspapers about me. If you are staying till tomorrow, come over and we
will talk; I will tell you something.]
Gandhi, however, like other leaders, had no awareness about the “linguistic
charade” of the British, Aryan-IE family, and/or the misperceived genetic role of
SKT. The man, the only Indian ever, like Socrates, died for a noble cause he believed
to be the truth.
11.6 STOP HINDI/URDU DEBACLE
The idea of a religion-based script or language as the basis of nationalism, an

artificial concept, saw its first and powerful challenge by the natural forces. Region-
alism, language, and culture tore up the mask of Hindu or Muslim nationalism in
1965-71. United India always had language-based regions and various religions had
existed, and still do within regional languages and script. Hindu and Muslim scholars
had contributed in these mother tongues which were entrenched in the socio-eco-
nomic fabric and had controlled jobs. “Hindi” when sold as “Hindu” against Muslim
Urdu in the 19th century was an economic issue as discussed in Chapters IX and X.
For similar economic reasons, Hindi when sold as a “single national language” to
replace English after 15 years had no takers, even among its creators/lovers
Bhadralok/Bengali Hindus. Their betrayal of Hindi shows that emotional slogans,
310. S. A. Husain (1995), p. 169.
263
nationalism, and pro-Hinduism are all driven by political economics which was the
bottom line in 1965 and also in Syed Ahmed’s time in the 19th century.
Thus, following an intense round of arson, riot, murders, bus- and train-burning
by Bengalis and Southern Dravidians, the replacement of English by “Hindi” as the
sole national administrative language was stopped. Dr. Chatterji, a Bengali, member
and chairman of the “Official Language Commission” from 1947 onwards stood out
for his Bengali. He had supported Hindi to promote national integration prior to 1947.
In a great turnaround in 1960s he wanted “Hindi” stopped to perpetuate regional divi-
sions, he commented:311
“The use of DNS is fraught with very great difficulties for language like
Bengali or Tamil, and it is apprehended it will seek to perpetuate the undesirable
domination of Hindi over all Indian languages, which is emphatically against national
integration in India, taking note of realities of the situation.”
Figure XI.1 A Specimen of Gandhi’s Handwriting
Even before writing this piece, he admits that the question of “National Lan-
guage,” or Rastra-bhāsa, was based on sentiment and not on a scientific and rational
approach. Chatterji, of course, never confessed that the Hindi vs. Urdu drama of the
19th century was also sentimental, divisive, and not in the national interest. He also
311. S. K. Chatterji (1972) Vol. III, p. 43
264
conveniently ignored the scientific complexities and contrast between DNS and
Southern scripts.
As is well known two types of script, syllabic and alphabetic, exist in India.
Alphabetic writing is based on about 35 phonetic symbols reflecting consonants and
vowels and is utilized by SKT Hindi, Bengali, Gujrati, Urdu, and GRS. Syllabic
script, the older variety used by Dravidian, Tamil, Telugu, and Japanese, is a continu-
ation of the concept from ancient Mesopotamia and pre-Grecian Crete. Symbols here
represent a full sound, a consonant plus a vowel. Thus ba, bi, bu, be, etc. may look
different and independent of each other. Telugu uses some 500 symbols and Tamil
over 200; and Tamil is the oldest script (not DNS) used for writing SKT and still in
use. Thus, the political move that DNS would be embraced in South as the “most
authentic” Hindu script would unite all Hindus was a fantastic blunder or gross mis-
calculation. Interestingly, Chatterji’s Bengali could be very easily switched to DNS,
being alphabetic, but he defended his Bengali. Seen from economic/political perspec-
tives, this was again a contest between regions, e.g., Bengal vs. North, exactly the
same as in the 19th century (Chapter IX). It was Bengali-supported English against
Urdu, and in 1965 it was North’s Hindi against Bengali.
Another drama involving Northern Urdu/Hindi people (West Pakistanis) and
East Pakistani Bengali speakers and its resultant Bangladesh (1971) had similar
regional and language issues that ended in a defeat of the concept of national identity
and unity based on religion and/or imposed foreign language. Since natural forces
usually win these contests, Bengali of Bangladesh won against Urdu domination and
Bengali of India and South Indians against Hindi. Another spin-off in the language/
religion drama was the splitting in the 1960s of Indian part of the Punjab into a Sikh-
dominated, Punjabi-speaking state, and a Hindi-speaking one, “Haryana.” Its germs
were sown when Hindi was imposed on Punjabi Hindus in the later part of the 19th
century by Bengalees and Arya Samaj; the Sikhs had resisted and adopted Punjabi, as
Muslims kept their Urdu. All the speakers of Punjabi, ethnically one people, were
split on script. Gurmukhi, another variation of DNS, is considered holy by Sikhs.
Incidentally, in the Sikh vs. Hindu linguistic drama, this author, a first-hand witness,
was engaged in graduate studies at the Medical Institute at Chandigarh. Verbal
debates in the assembly were in the Punjabi language, but reported in local news-
papers in Urdu, a valuable script even fifteen years after partition.
The effects of these types of political debacles are always disastrous, economi-
cally disruptive, fueling social anger and stress for a long time. Urdu’s removal in
1949 and its slow (still) ongoing recovery in India spread out over some fifty years is
a story by itself.
11.7 SHOCK AND RECOVERY OF INDIAN URDU
The Hindi bill was a real shock, like electro-convulsive therapy, a shock given
to a mental patient who stays confused and disoriented for a while. This was the state
of Muslim leaders of INC like Azad, Kidwai, Zakir Hussain, and hundreds of others,
including Hindu leaders and mullahs of Deoband, and Nadwa of Lucknow etc., and
265
hundreds of Hindu/Muslim secular writers of PWM. It was unbelievable that Urdu,

India’s official language for over a century and mother tongue of millions of Indian
Muslims and Hindus, especially of U.P, Bihar, and M.P was removed. After a few
years of transition, Urdu almost disappeared as a medium of education, especially in
U.P and Bihar. Urdu script was visibly targeted, while the real target was Muslims.
Pakistan, conceded for only the Muslim majority of the East and West, was deliber-
ately propagated by fanatic Hindus to be for all Muslims. Urdu was now not only the
language of an enemy country but of Indian Muslims, who needed political support.
Their supporters, including Hindu leaders, J. L. Nehru and Gandhi, communists,
socialists, and liberals, became the targets of the Hindu nationalists and the Hindu
right wing. Many scholars of that time had expressed distress and shock. A leading
Urdu poet, a Hindu, and a professor of English at Allahabad University, Firaq had
presented logical arguments against Urdu’s removal. He defended Urdu not as an
alien language but as a misunderstood concept. Being the language of the urban elite,
it had seemed alien to the surrounding majority, the illiterate villagers (both Hindus
and Muslims). He had questioned how, by replacing 3000 naturalized Arabic-Persian
words by the new difficult SKT tatsam words, the villagers will benefit; it will be
even more difficult for them to understand. 312 Firaq was clearly against this
regression and replacement. He was, in fact, apprehensive about the cultural degra-
dation and regression of Indians by aggressive high Hindi and, like Gandhi, had sup-
ported both scripts. He was visibly angered by the shortsighted attitude of Hindu
nationalists. In one recorded radio speech addressing the Hindi enthusiasts, Firaq
said, “Let me come down to your level and your idioms. Arey (O!) Hinduo (Hindus)
learn Urdu. Pakistan is your enemy. If you don’t learn your enemy’s language, how
will you fight them? Let me explain it to you differently. India has several million
Muslims, and you say Urdu is their language. Let me accept this for a minute. Even
then brothers, if you will not understand the language of such a big minority, how will
you know what they are doing and what they are thinking?” This interview was
recorded by Ratan Singh but was never aired.313
Sahir Ludhianvi, another member of PWM and a leading song writer of
Bombay film industry, targeted the politicians regarding the fate of Urdu on the
occasion of the first anniversary of poet Ghalib at Delhi in 1969 in the presence of
Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Two verses from his satirical poem
say it all:
“Jin sahron mein gūnji thi Ghalib ki nava barson
un sahron mein ab Urdu bey nām-o-nisan thaihri
āzadi-ey kamil ka elān huwa jis din
māyūb zaban thaihri ghaddar zaban thaihri
Jis ahed-e siyasat ne yeh zinda zaban kucli

Es ahed-e siyasat ko marhūmon ka gham kyoon hai
Ghalib jisey kahtey hain Urdu ka hi shair tha
312. S. N. Naqvi (1996) in Syed Amjad Husain, pp. 50-52.

313. Ratan Singh in Syed Amjad Husain (Edit) Firaq, p. 127.
266
Urdu peh sitam dha kar Ghalib peh karam kyoon hai”
[In the cities where Ghalib’s voice echoed for years

Urdu has no sign of existence
The day freedom dawned on India
Urdu became faulted and non-patriotic - alien
The political system that killed this dynamic language

Why does the same system mourn the dead?
The man called Ghalib was an Urdu poet
Why this show of kindness to Ghalib and cruelty to Urdu?]
Another well-known Urdu poet from Lucknow, Mr. Anand Narain Mulla, a
Kashmiri Brahmin, had expressed the pain at the passage of the Hindi bill. Wrapping
this up, “Black Day: September 14, 1949,” in a poetic quatrain, Mulla said:
“Yeh hādisa sāl-i-cahel wa nau mein huwa
Hindi ki churi thi aur Urdu ka gala
Urdu ki rafeeqon mein jo maqtūl huwey
Suna hai Mulla nāmi sāir bhi tha”
[This episode occurred in the year 1949

Hindi’s dagger was pitched on Urdu’s throat
Among Urdu’s lovers who were martyred
There was one poet named Mulla]
Mr. Mulla had once expressed his love for his mother tongue and with deep
emotion had declared, “I can abandon my religion, but I cannot leave my mother
tongue.”
Indian Urdu, in past decades, has acquired several labels and often charac-
terized as a minority language, regional language, official language, second official
language, Muslims’ language, foreign language, Muslims’ mother tongue, and even
the enemy’s language. But there seems to be general acceptance now, even by Urdu’s
main detractors, that Urdu/Hindi is one language with two scripts.
Urdu’s proponents have been relentless in their efforts and somewhat remi-
niscent of Hindi’s proponents of the 19th century, but with one exception; they also
include Hindu intellectuals, academics, and politicians. Prof. Gopi Chand Narag,
Gian Chand Jain, and Jangan Nath Azād have been most noteworthy beside hundreds
of authors and poets.
Urdu now, as noted before, is the second official language in Bihar and U.P. In
the southern states and Maharastra, where about half of some 40 million Urdu
speakers live, Urdu has become a medium of instruction; this is also the case in Bihar
and Delhi. Even though U.P. is considered Urdu’s home, it has lagged behind with
regard to the primary education level. According to Prof. Omar Khalidi, U.P., with
about 11 million Urdu speakers, did not have a single state-run Urdu primary school,
while Bihar had 5,500, with about 7 million speakers, based on a 1991 survey.314 In
267
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, primary level education is quite extensive. With
private efforts utilizing madrassas, Urdu education, however, has been growing
everywhere. Urdu has been named the sixth largest language of India since the 1971
census, Hindi being the first.
Urdu’s literacy has been on the rise lately. After English and Hindi, Urdu
occupies the third place as far as newspapers are concerned. In 1983, out of a total of
some 20,758 newspapers in India, Hindi’s share was the largest at 5,936, followed by
English at 3,840, and Urdu in third place with 1,378.
Urdu education at the university level too has been thriving. For example, in
the post-partition phase, in 1956, this author remembers only two students at the
Masters level at Allahabad University. As of 2006, there is a crowd at the Masters
level and dozens are enrolled in the doctorate program, according to Dr. Atia Nishat
of the Urdu Department. This is the case in many universities all over India. A more
laudable development has been the establishment of the Maulana Azad Memorial
University at Hyderabad (1998) with Urdu as the medium of instruction. It is
intended to impart all education including sciences in Urdu. Conceptually, it is a rein-
carnation of the Osmania University of the 1920s, which had produced science,
medical, and engineering graduates even up to the 1950s, but quality had been the
main focus then as now. The new university, according to its first Vice Chancellor Dr.
Shamim Jairajpuri315 has established several study centers in many states such as
Karnataka, Maharashtra and elsewhere; it certainly signifies a political recognition of
Urdu and a move towards inclusiveness and the rehabilitation of Urdu. In Pakistan,
too, they have a similar Urdu university at Karachi. Urdu in Pakistan, of course, never
lost its status and is a powerful unifying force, though misperceived as “Islamic” by
many.
11.8 “ISLAMIC URDU” OF PAKISTAN
As Urdu undergoes a reappraisal and restoration in India, Pakistani scholars

try to portray Urdu as “Islamic,” a label concocted at FWC and resisted by Sir Syed.
But Urdu has emerged as “one national language” in a modern sense like French and
German. The emergence of Pakistan, for good or bad, has surely helped to homog-
enize the entire sub-continent, especially the North, Central, and West. A massive
migration of midland Urdu/Hindi speakers to the West, gravitating to Karachi (Sind),
has actually impacted Brij-accented Sindhi. A grand mixture of Khari boli, Hyder-
abadi Deccani, and Brij (Sindhi) will surely evolve into some unique accented hybrid
in due course.
Pakistani scholars tend to view Urdu’s origin with Muslims’ arrival, as if Urdu
is a Muslim creation, an incorrect position.
Prof. Jalibi has dealt with this issue in some detail. One of his quotations is as
follows:316
314. Omar Khalidi (1995), pp. 139-145.

315. Shamim Jairajpuri (2002), p. 316.
268
“Urdu’s history starts with Muslim arrival in the subcontinent, who, after mix-
ing their own (Persian and Arabic) languages with local dialects, disseminated the
resulting hybrid all over India.”
He and most others bypass the genesis of Urdu’s skeleton from Munda Dra-
vidian (Chapters IV and V) and the hybrid origin of Arabic and Persian in Meso-
potamia (Chapter III and VI) thousands of years prior to Islam. The lingua franca of
the areas called Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and West Asia was Arabic’s ancestor,
Aramaic, the official language of Cyrus-Darius of the not-too-distant past. Ashoka,
too, had used Aramaic script for his Pali.
These issues are relevant to gauge the linguistic integrity of the Western part of
the sub-continent, now Pakistan. Prof. Jalibi has attempted to identify the foci of the
hybrid language (Urdu-Hindi) in a nationalistic fervor and identifies Urdu’s seed in
all languages, including Sindhi, Baluchi, Brahui, Saraiki, and Punjabi. Urdu’s genetic
link with Punjabi is well-known, and its kinship was noted earlier (Chapter II). One
certainly expects Urdu’s nuclei to form in all regions of Pakistan as ancient languages
had inter-mingled here. In linking Urdu with Sindhi, Prof. Jalibi cites an Islamic
scholar, Suleiman Nadwi, who said:317
“Muslims reached Sindh first; therefore the most reliable assessment regarding
what’s called Urdu is that it had its base structured here.”
Obviously such political positions ignore the long genetic history in Meso-
potamia and India. Sindhi and Urdu are almost identical, as noted by Prof. Jalibi, and
Sindhi’s dialectional mode is Brij style and its vocabulary is almost similar to Urdu,
Its Brij accent mode (named after the Mathura-Agra tract of U.P might have even
originated elsewhere. Verb and noun endings with vowels “o” and “u” have their
oldest record in West Asia. We have seen similar vowels endings in ancient Sumerian
and Assyrian, i.e., libāsu meaning “garment” (Chapter III).
The following examples show similarity in Sindhi and Urdu words:

Urdu Sindhi Meaning
Camca Camcu Spoon
Ghora Ghoru Horse
Chokra Chokru Boy
Hoshiar Hoshiaru Smart
Peela Peelu Yellow
Kâla Karu Black
In Central Asia, too, all the way to Russia, proper names ending with “o” or
“ov”are common, e.g., Ahmedov, Akramov, etc. In dealing with Pushto we again see a
similar assessment: "Urdu's birthplace is the mountainous tracts of frontier." But Jalibi
connects Urdu with Islam, Muslim pathans, and their glorious carrier in the history of
India. Pushto is inflected, like Persian, unlike Urdu and Hindi, and in the Persian group.
316. Jamil Jalibi (1995), p. 586.

317. Ibid. p. 673.
269
But the vocabulary had a common pool/source/ancestors similar to Urdu. Its features,
such as retroflex cerebral sounds t, d, etc., are Austric-Dravidian, pre-Aryan, and it
shows a Brij trend as well, e.g. :
Urdu Pushto Meaning
Par kata Par katey Clipped feather
Sanda Sandeh River
Sâda Sodeh Plain
Numerous words of Munda-Austric-Dravidian are identifiable in Pushto. In the

poetry318 of the famous Khushal Khan Khattak we find Dravidian verbs like bhāgi
(ran) and Munda verb, lāgi (attached) as reviewed in earlier chapters (Tables IV. 1 and
IV. 2).
Urdu itself has been in use in the frontier area as a preferred language since the
17th-18 th century. The work of poets like Abdul Rahman Baba (1632-1706) and
Hyder Peshawari (1726-1800), according to Dr. Jalibi, reveal Urdu-Hindi as widely
and deeply rooted, Pali being its319 earliest example, of course, in this area. In dealing
with Baluchistan’s language, Prof. Jalibi makes a similar assertion. Urdu’s devel-
opment in its early phase started in Baluchistan, which was the Eastern province
called Tūran of the Islamic Caliphate after Mohammed Qasim’s victory.” Baluchistan
obviously has been a hybridic area from the earliest times and still has Dravidian
“Brahui” along with Baluchi, Persian, Pushto, Sindhi, and Kurdish, an IE dialect, an
interesting polyglot in which Urdu has served, according to Dr. Jalibi, as a link since
the Moghul times. Many words of Brahui and Austric-Munda pervade Baluchi, which
is grouped with Persian because of its similarity in grammar.
Dr. Jalibi’s work underscores the point, though indirectly, that centers of syn-
thetic language had taken roots throughout the subcontinent, especially in the
Northern tract, where the main ingredients are drawn from Munda-Austric-Dravidian
with a veneer of SKT, Persian, and Arabic in varying proportion (Chapters VI-VII).
Urdu today thrives in Pakistan, with Karachi rivaling Lahore of yesteryears, Delhi,
Lucknow, and Hyderabad. The same is true for its twin, Hindi, which in the modern
sense only means a change of script. For the people on the streets of Karachi, Delhi,
and Lucknow not much has changed in terms of the quality of the spoken language
which they have absorbed from parents and grandparents, going back to the remotest
past. While their speech and culture (food and dress), physical appearance, genes/
DNA make them a nation of one people of South Asia, their broken and divided
hearts as Hindus and Muslims make them mutual enemies. Their infliction and
“mutual hatred” is not all British-created, but certainly 100% British exploited.
318. Ibid. pp. 699-705.

319. J. Jalibi (1995), pp. 709-711.
270
11.9 DIVIDED LANGUAGE OF DIVIDED HEARTS
Most historians now agree that the British divided the hearts and hearth, and
this book has focused on the language vector as critical in the debate: Could partition
have been avoided. This remains debatable, as does the future of the entire sub-con-
tinent; it could break up further or emerge as a united power once again. No one
knows. But for academic reasons, a full exposure of history as crafted by the British
is relevant. The history of communalism by Bipin Chandra is perhaps a major step in
this direction, it reveals an integrated hybrid India and its undoing by British. To
understand any of these vectors, British intrigue, or emergence of Muslims on the
Indian scene, one needs a scientific and objective outlook with a secular-utilitarian
view of every human issue, including religious ideas; for there is an earthly history of
everything, written down, going back to about 4000 BC. The study of history requires
freedom from myth, dogmas, and contemporary common sense. Without this
approach, one cannot understand the scientific history of anything, including the
genetic evolution of languages as elaborated in the book.
Skepticism and arguments against the scheme of linguistic classification, its
racial/religious basis, drafting of Hindus into Aryan family, and the rise of alien con-
cepts of Sarvarkar’s, Hindutva, and citizenship rights based on the Hindu religion
only, the idea of a Hindu script, or a Hindu SKT or Muslims’ Arabic/Urdu are pieces
of one puzzle: “British compulsions and indulgence.”
A major emphasis of the book is to treat language and culture as an entity in
history distinct from religion, although there has always been an attempt to make
them into a holistic package, i.e., SKT, Hebrew, and Arabic. But, as discussed, these
can be easily separated. The new classification in Chapter XVII integrates these ideas
and discussion with a different perspective on Indian history, and not just in Hindu-
Muslim terms. Being a physician/scientist, this author, an insider and privy to both
Hindu and Muslim religious communities, has noticed this infliction of mixing myths
with history in both groups. Of course, it is universal and seen among Jews and Chris-
tians, but a wrong approach is wrong everywhere and is fully debated in Chapter
XVII.
Two significant but relevant issues need a brief review here: Sarvarkar’s Hin-
dutva and the role of Indian academic linguists who acted as levers of the British
power. Hindutva was a direct import of the British or European concept of one
religion, one language, one race, and one land, i.e., four constituting one nation:
England, English, Anglican/Christianity, Protestant Anglican monarch (a must),
English language was the model. Others like France and Spain had and still have this
concept. It was the wrong model for a large multi-ethnic, multi-glottic, multi-reli-
gious subcontinent of India. Historically India has always been secular, since the
Asokan times and during the Muslim and Sikh eras. The kings’ religion was never the
state religion. Incidentally, this is generally true elsewhere: ancient Persia, Muslim
Spain, Ottoman Empire etc. A religion-based state, a novelty in human affairs, is
rooted in the Old Testament myths and took a practical shape with the advent of
Roman Christianity; in India it was a British import. In Sarvarkar’s and RSS ideology
with Hinduism and SKT-Hindi, DNS as the basis of Indian nation/citizenship
271
Muslims, (25% of India’s population), about 100 million, had to be excluded. This
well-propagated idea, coupled with the alleged conviction, 1000 years of slavery and
oppression of Hindus by Muslims among the powerful Hindu (educated) petty bour-
geois, drove the idea of Pakistan. Even a tenth grader could predict the birth of
Pakistan.
The other lever of British power, linguistics, was controlled by another man
and his surrogate, Dr. S. K. Chatterji, who seemed to have protected the Aryan model
of classification, i.e., the degeneration of SKT into daughters, Hindi and Bengali. He
had known, as is evident from his book, that Austric-Munda and Dravidian, oldest in
India, had different grammar and syntax than SKT, a recent import from Syria-
Turkey, which had a massive loan from Dravidian and Austric in phonetics and
vocabulary. He was the only person who could have challenged the British and pro-
posed a new classification (Chapter XVII), but he did not.
According to Chatterji, the British Aryan model (now completely discredited)
had really mesmerized the educated and the petty bourgeois, who still don’t challenge
it. Even Gandhi had a sense in it. According to Prof. Parekh,320 Gandhi’s concept was
“For him (Gandhi) India’s history began with the arrival of the Aryans and con-
tinued for several thousands of years during which it developed a rich spiritual cul-
ture. It was rudely interrupted by the arrival of the Muslims and then the British,
and was to be resumed at Independence. The Muslim and British periods were
largely aberrations made possible by Hindu decadence and had little impact on
India. The Muslim were little more than converted Hindus, whose religion was but
an icing on their essentially Hindu cultural cake.”
Gandhi, like others, had succumbed to the British-propagated view of Ary-
anism and was not acquainted with the unpublicized secrets of the deep and basic
contribution of Austric and Dravidian tribes in both the Hindu religion and linguistics
(Chapters IV and V) and also with the discoveries of West Asia (Chapter III). Thus, in
his time, all possible peace plans had implied a peace between two types of Indians:
Hindus and Muslims with their religious/cultural baggage, pride, and arrogance intact
and mutually recognized and respected. It had meant only a political peace, not one of
hearts, which is not risk free.
The peace of hearts is possible only with a sense of joint creativity, e.g.,
between spouses are children. Most visible joint creation, e.g., the Taj Mahal etc had
then implied Muslim slavery and Urdu script was in this category. During this historic
phase (1920-40s), the only one thing that could be revolutionary and have glued up
India as a united whole was “unqualified, truthful revelation” about Indian lin-
guistics; that Hindi/Urdu was a joint creation of all tribes (Chapters IV-VI), with basic
skeleton (grammar) from Munda and Dravidian, plus its 60% vocabulary, evolving
cumulatively by absorption from younger arrivals, SKT, Persian, and Arabic
speakers, and also the evolution of script from West Asian model, Aramaic (Chapter
XVI). It was all pretty well established by the 1920s. Dr. S. K. Chatterji apparently
failed to deliver because perhaps he had no academic freedom, and/or was bound too
320. Bikhu Parekh (1985), pp. 103-104.
272
strongly to the Hindu mythical idea of SKT and to his parochial Bengali interest, as
became evident during the 1960s. His divisive role in fact in language along the
Hindu/Muslim line was initiated at the Gujrat Vernacular Society in the 1940s, where
his serial lectures were first published and appeared later as a second edition of his
famous book (1969).321 These lectures, perhaps a crowd pleaser then, at Ahmedabad
are full of anti-Muslim comments; calling INC-supported Hindustani or Urdu as a
“musalman form of Hindi” ( a term he used for “musalman form of Bengali”) in
unsuitable for a Hindu nation-state. He also condemns Bombay’s films for its Urdu/
Hindi language and Arabic/Persian script as Islamic/foreign.322 However, our review
makes it clear that Urdu/Hindi is a 100% secular enterprise and a joint baby of all
“Indians” with no burden of affiliation in its phonetic or scripts with any religion.
The new classification (Chapter XVII) integrates these core and realistic ideas.
The current peace moves (2006) between India and Pakistan, in its real essence, is the
re-establishment of a dialogue between Hindus and Muslims, interrupted by some 50-
60 years. In a most optimistic assessment, it may lead to a formation of some United
States type of entity eventually. But it will be temporal and political again, and not a
peace of heart, without a major shift in the concept that religions have had no genetic
role in language development, neither in Islam nor in Hinduism. The concept, which
is based on scientific evidence, may serve as a nucleus to rally around and may lead
to even official adoption of Urdu/Hindi as the lingua franca of South Asia, now re-
grouped as SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation).
The Hindi versus Urdu issue, pushed by the British and Bengali intellectuals,
snowballed into Hindu versus Muslim politics. This chapter reviews the role of
secular leaders and their position that helped maintain Urdu and its script in the parti-
tioned India. It also examines the “monumental role” of Gandhi, whose support for
Urdu’s cause, viewed as “anti-Hindu,” cost him his life. The chapter examines the
role of academic linguists of Bengal who misguided the national leadership on lan-
guage policy to replace Urdu by Hindi and then withdrew support for Hindi when
their own Bengali was challenged. The chapter reviews the reason behind the failure
of Hindi to become the “sole national language” and notes that Urdu’s failure in East
Bengal (now Bangladesh) and Hindi’s failure in West Bengal (India) were related to
natural inter regional politics of the sub-continent. These regional and secular trends
were deflected by the British towards religious division to suit their own politics.
Urdu’s “revivalism,” based on a democratic process, in India is also analyzed,
although Urdu is still wrongly perceived as a Muslim issue.
321. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 107, 110, 121.

322. Ibid. pp. 250-258.
273
CHAPTER XII. URDU THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY
12.0 INTRODUCTION
As we begin the review of Urdu of the 20th century, a continuation of its evo-
lution through the literature and politics covered in Chapters VIII-XI, we must not
forget that Urdu’s stream had tributaries from Mesopotamia and all the tribes of the
subcontinent have a natural stake in it. And also the language and culture are geo-
graphical entities independent of religion. Prof. Narang323 of Delhi seems to have a
concordant position, in saying that “language has no religion.” In him one of the basic
ideas of this book seems to have a sympathetic ear. His article is part of Kamil
Qureshi’s book, Urdu and Composite Indian Culture, which paints Urdu as the repre-
sentative of a culture composite of two main religions/cultures, Hindu and Muslim.
Mixing and confusing religion with culture and language is not unusual with the
scholars of sub-continent
In the 20th century, we see Urdu writers focused on contemporary political
issues, socialism, communism, freedom movements, communal riots, partition,
Bengal famine, not to mention the standard menu of ghazals, humanism, and human
rights. The chapter is a brief review of these themes and their authors.
12.1 MODERN POETS AND POETRY
As famous poets like Dagh, Amir Mināie, and Akbar (Chapter IX) straddling
through the 19 th -20 th centuries ushered Urdu into the modern age, poetry had
become immensely popular with massive expansion in education and show business.
Urdu poets, no more dependent on royal charities, were generally economically
emancipated, self-supporting, and self-respecting, and, therefore, free and self-con-
fident; their ranks now included various professions, teacher, civil servant, lawyer,
323. Narang (2002) in Kamil Quraishi (2002), p.129.
275
doctor, journalist, playwright, clerk, or even a salesman or shopkeeper. Urdu poetry,

however, remained the source of livelihood for some, a minority mostly in show
business. The language itself became simpler for a wider audience. Among various
themes anti-West cultural fervor and anti-British freedom movements had special
focus in the first half of the century.
Akbar Allahabadi, a government employee, had commented on the Indians
mimicry of the West:
“har chand kot bhi hai patloon bhi hai
bangla bhi hai pat bhi hai sabun bhi hai
lekin yeh maïn tujh se pūchta hun ai Hindi
yorup ka teri ragon mein kuch khun bhi hai?”
Robina Niaz, a social worker and activist of New York, has translated this very
nicely as:
[Clearly (you) got a coat and pantloons too
a bungalow and toilet seat and some soap too
but O Indian, I must ask this too
do you have European blood in your veins too?]
Akbar had satirized the political opportunism and hypocrisy of the Indian
leaders and said:
“Qaum ke gham mein diner khatey hain hukkām ke sāth

ranj leader ko bahut hai magar ārām ke sāth”
[(they) cry for the people’s plight but enjoy dinner with (British) officers
the leader feels the people’s pain but in ease and comfort]
During Akbar’s time and after his death (1921) a whole army of poets surfaced,
most of whom were participants in PWM. Besides the world-renowned Iqbal, we find
Firāq, Chakbast, Josh, Jigar, Majāz, Fāni, Hasrat Mohāni, Trilok Chand Marhum,
Naubat Rai Nazar, Sād Azimabadi and others. They are too many to even name.
Among some very renowned and recent ones, we find Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed
Nadeem Qasmi, Shirani, Sahir, Shakeel, Ali Sardar Jafri, Jagan Nath Azād and Jazbi.
And among the more recent and current poets we have Qateel, Faraz, Bashir Badar,
Shaheryar, Wasim Barelvi, Javed Akhtar, etc. Many of them have also made their
mark as lyricists in show business. Most of these poets have been recognized and
evaluated by the eminent critics and historians of Urdu literature, such as Dr. Salim
Akhtar, N. H. Naqvi, R. B. Saxena, Jalibi, etc. A short review of just a few of them
tracks the historical trend and evolution in Urdu.
Sheikh Mohammed Iqbal (1877-1928)
Iqbal, along with Kalidas, Khusru, Ghalib, and Tagore, is among the five
greatest poets of India. Iqbal certainly leads the pack as he was skilled in several lan-
guages and had a global reach. He produced the largest volume and covered all sub-
jects, ranging from patriotic nationalism to universalism, Sufism and so on. He cried
276
Chapter XII. Urdu through the 20th Century
on the plight of the oppressed people and faulted Europe for colonialism, lax
morality, godless political systems and opposed the British rule.
Born in a poor family of converted Kashmiri Brahmins, Iqbal had a thorough
grounding in Arabic and Persian before his attaining a doctorate and a law degree
from Lahore, Germany, and Cambridge Universities. Iqbal worked as a professor and
lawyer and indulged in national politics and had acquired global fame as a poet-phi-
losopher of the East; inspiring Indians towards self-improvement. J. L. Nehru and
Iqbal were mutual admirers. Nehru said of him,324 “I admired him and his poetry and
it pleased me greatly to feel that he liked me and had a good opinion about me.”
Iqbal, fundamentally a secular humanist, supported the Indian Muslims, then clearly
considered underdogs, even by the Russian Communist Party. Iqbal had described the
Muslims’ situation in the following words:
“Ghaddar-e-vatan us ko batatey hain Brahman
angrez samajhta musalman ko gadagar”
[He (Muslim) is called a traitor by the Brahmin

and the English consider him a beggar]
Like the earlier Urdu poets, he too believed there was a common ground
between Hinduism and Islam. He had written poems on Hindu prophets like Rām,
referring to him as “Imam-e-Hind,” or “Leader of India,” and not only of Hindus, as
follows:
“hai ram kay vajud pay Hindustan ko nāz
ahl-e-nazar samajhtey hain usko imām-e-Hind”
[Hindustan (India) is proud of the existence of Ram

People with insight consider him a (pious) leader of India]
By living in the West, Iqbal had seen the real “exploitative self-interest” of the
Western systems and satired on them profusely. Two couplets in simple language
reflect his feelings:
“jān jāiey hāth se jāiey na sat
hai yehin aek bāt har mazhab ka tat
[One should sacrifice life but not the truth;

this is in every religion the core truth]
“cattey battey aek hi thāli kay hain

sâhu kâri biswadâri ya saltanat”
[(They) are all chips of the same block

be it capitalism, collective farming, or monarchy]
324. J. L. Nehru (1942-1960), p. 352.
277
Indo-British system also exploited the poor, laborers, and farmers, almost 90%
of the population then. Iqbal’s anger at the system is reflected in the following revolu-
tionary couplets:
“utha kar phenk do bāher gali mein
naiee tehzeeb kay anday hain ganday
election, membari, council, sadarat
banā-ey khub hain azādi nay phanday
miyan najjār bhi cheeley ga-ey sath
nehā-et tez hain yorup kay rinday”
[Throw them out on the street

the eggs of the new civilization are bad
election, council membership, presidency
these traps are created by the (new) freedom
the carpenter (collaborator) himself is being peeled or chiseled
(they) are smart, those European oppressors]
These couplets (as is obvious in the meaning) underscore the stress and irrita-
bility at every level. His vision of unity and love was quite impressive and he has
written a lot on it. One such verse is:
“aekti bhi santi bhi bhakton ke geet mein hai
dharti kay bāsiyon ki mukt preet mein hai”
[Peace and power both reside in the songs of Sufis and Bhakt
Love only can deliver the people of this earth]
In Pakistan, Iqbal, also called the Poet of the East, has been accorded the
highest status. Earlier ignored in India as the dreamer of Pakistan, he has lately been
recognized as a poet and philosopher. Prof. Jagannath Āzad has attributed the Indian
slackness to the post-partition anger of many Hindus.325 While Iqbal’s tall shadow
dominates modern poetry, his contemporaries had also created some excellent poetry.
After Iqbal, three big “F’s,” Firāq, Faiz, and Farāz, along with Jigar, dominated
much of the 20th century.
Firāq Gorakhpuri (1896-1982)

Raghupat Sahāi, better known by his title, Firāq, belonged to the Hindu Kay-
astha family of Gorakhpur, U.P. and moved to Allahabad University and lived almost
his entire life there. He taught English, wrote Urdu poetry, and fought with the Hindi
department, while crusading for the restoration of Urdu in India. Firāq had become a
legend in his lifetime. The following was stated about him in a Pakistani Urdu mag-
azine, “Akhbar-e-Jahan,” in January 1978:
325. Azad Jagan Nath (1997) in Syed Amjad Husain (1996) Vol. 52, pp. 87-100.
278
“As India can be rightly proud of the Taj Mahal, Ghalib, and democracy, it has a
great poet in Firq also.”
This quote from a special volume,326 “Firāq, Voice of the Century,” reveals the
excellence of his work on ghazals, Hindu mythology, humanism, socialism, and phi-
losophy. These are a few of his quotes:
“tum mukhatib bhi ho qareeb bhi ho
tum ko dekhein keh tum se bāt karein”
[You are engaged (in listening) and also in close proximity

(should) I just look at you? Or should I talk to you?
“hum se kiya ho saka muhabbat mein

tum ne to khai-er be wafāie ki”
[I couldn’t do anything in this love (affair)

you at least were unfaithful]
Separation and sadness have been prominent themes in his poetry. One
example:
“gharz ke kāt diyey zindagi kay din ai dôst
voh teri yād mein hon ya tujhey bhulāney mein”
[Somehow I managed to live out the days of my life

either in your remembrance or in trying to forget you]
Firāq’s struggle for the restoration of Urdu as discussed before was strong and
relentless and invited the wrath of many Hindu nationalists.
Jigar Muradabadi (1890-1960)
Jigar perhaps was the leading ghazal poet of his time to be later surpassed by
Firāq. His career in poetry got an early start as Jigar did not go for higher education.
Being quite fond of learning Jigar seemed to have read a lot which is clearly reflected
in his poetry. Like many of his peers, drinking was his companion too, although to a
much greater degree.
Jigar who had taken poet Dāg Dehlvi as his teacher/guide earlier, had aban-
doned drinking and later turned to Sufism before his death. His work has been pub-
lished in three volumes; one is titled “Dāg-e-Jigar” (Blemish on the Liver); liver and
not heart is often referred to as vital organs in romantic literature. The following cou-
plets are examples of his work:
“ā keh tujh bin es tarah ai dost ghabrāta hum mein
jai-say her shai mein kisi shai ki kami pāta hun mein”
[come! My friend because I feel disturbed without you
326. Ramesh Chandra Duwedi (1996) in Syed Amjad Husain’s “Firāq, Voice of the
Century,” p. 142.
279
I feel as if something is missing in everything]
“arsh tak ho nahein sakti rasa-iey na sahi

yehi insān ki merāj hai insān ho jā-iey”
[it doesn’t matter if one cannot be exalted to the heavens

man can be exalted by being just (good) human]
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984)

Faiz, a leading poet, had been a consistent socialist ever since he joined PWM.
He is the only Urdu poet whose work captured the headlines in New York City.
During June 2000, translation of his poem “mujhey sochney do” or “let me think”
was posted in New York City subway trains and buses as part of the “Poetry in
Motion” series, according to Dawn of Pakistan.327
Faiz was groomed in Persian, Arabic, English and Urdu. After getting his
Masters in English, Faiz worked both as a teacher and a journalist. He had spent
many years in jail for his alleged involvement in a communist conspiracy. Much of
his work is socialism-oriented including his ghazals. Several of his compositions
have been popular among famous singers like Nūr Jehan, Farida Khanum, and Mehdi
Hassan. One of the most popular one is as follows:
“mujh se pehli si muhabbat merey mahboob na māng
aur bhi dukh hain zamane mein muhabbat ke seva
rāhatein aur bhi hain vasl ki rāhat ke seva

mujh se pehli si muhabbat merey mahboob na māng”
[don’t ask me for the same old love, my beloved (any more)
there are other painful issues in this world, other than love
there are comforts other than the joy of being with you
don’t ask me for the same old love, my beloved (any more) ]
Other comforts imply socialist issues, of course. In the next one, Faiz appears
to be satirical against the system and God when he says:
“aek fursatey gunāh mili voh bhi chār din
dekhey hain ham ney hausley parvardigār ke”
[Just four days of leisure* time to indulge in sin

Such is the magnanimity of God!]
*Leisure signifies a lifetime here
327. “Poetry in Motion,” Dawn, Karachi, Pakistan, June 4, 2000.
280
After Faiz, Ahmed Faraz is seen as the leading Urdu poet. Besides him, though
Urdu has produced a whole bunch of celebrities and thousands of others. Many had
suffered through migration during partition and the riots that followed.
Jagannath Azād (b.1918) was born in the Punjab, a refugee from Pakistan, had
been professor of Urdu; Azād is inspired by Iqbal’s patriotism and has focused on
socialism, humanism, and partition-related suffering. The following stanza expresses
that pain:
“merey chaman mein bhi to ā-iey thi bahār
mein kya batā-oun keh ahley chaman pey kya guzri”
[spring came to my garden as well

(but) what do I tell you of the (adverse) fate of those who were in the garden?]
Spring and garden signify independence and country, respectively.

Hafeez Jalundhari (b. 1900) was a member of PWM and famous as the author
of the “national anthem” of Pakistan and Shah nāma Islam, an epic narrating Islamic
history. During the freedom movement he had composed some revolutionary poetry
in simple language: example follows
“apney mun mein preet basa ley apney mun mein preet
bharat māta hai dukh yāri

dukhyāren hain sab nar nāri
tu hi uthā lay sunder murli

tu hi ban jā shyām murāri”
[Adopt love in your heart, adopt love in your heart
Mother India is despondent

Distressed are all men and women
Pick up the lovely flute

And become Shyām (Krishna) the flute player]
The usage of Hindu and Muslim symbols has been the heritage of both Muslim
and Hindu poets. Hafeez was no exception. Others such as Majrūh Sultanpuri, Kaifi
Āzmi, Sāghar Nizāmi, Qateel Shifai, Jān Nisar Akhtar, Akhtar Sirāni, Ali Jawād
Zaidi, Ali Sardār Jāfri and Josh Malihabādi all contributed significantly to Urdu’s
progress and popularity in the 20th century.
Sahir Ludhianvi (1921-1980)

Sahir meaning magician was perhaps the most popular. Born as Abdul Hai in
Ludhiana, Indian Punjab, Sahir had a difficult and deprived upbringing, had wit-
nessed the massacre of Muslims during partition and after reaching Lahore saw the
reverse, the massacre of Hindus. Deeply affected and distressed, Sahir returned and
281
spent his entire life in the “make-believe” world of Bombay films. He has written a
lot on humanism, including satires on Urdu’s fate, Gandhi’s murder, etc.
Sahir’s satirical poems on Urdu’s fate during Ghalib’s anniversary (Chapter XI)
had exposed the Indian government’s hypocrisy. He questioned the system which was
insensitive to Urdu and celebrated its poets. At that time (1969) anti-Muslim riots
occurred in Ahmedabad and Gujrat. Sahir wrote a satire focused on the riots, gov-
ernment hypocrisy on Gandhian non-violence, and the plight of lower-caste Hindus,
called “Harijans.”
“Gandhi ho ya Ghalib ho
khatm huwa dono ka jashn
āo un hein ab kar dein dafn”
[Whether it is Gandhi or Ghalib

the celebration of their lives is over
come! Let us bury them now]
And,
“voh basti voh gāon hi kya
Jis mein harijan ho azād
Voh qasba voh shehr hi kya

Jo na baney Ahmeda bad”
[Where is that hamlet and where’s the village?

where the untouchables are free?
It is not a town or city

If it cannot become Ahmedabad]
“Gandhi ho ya Ghalib ho
dono ka kya kam yahan
ab ke baras bhi qatl huwie
aek ki shiksha aek ki zabān”
[whether it is Gandhi or Ghalib

their role here has ended (in India)
This year too, there were murders
Of one’s sermon and the other’s language]
But Sahir’s most famous poem on Taj Mahal is a satire on the memorial of a
king’s love and mocks the poor man’s love as seen by the socialist poet. It narrates a
lover’s (poet’s) reply to his beloved’s passionate desire to meet him in the Taj Mahal.
Three lines follow:
“aek shahanshah ne daulat ka sahāra lekar
hum ghareebon ki muhabbat ka urāya hai mazāq
merey mehboob kahein aur mila kar mujh se”
282
[A king has used his enormous wealth (to build)

has made a mockery of the love of poor men like us
my beloved, meet me in another place]
Sahir has written a lot of ghazals, as well as satires on social ills, war, Bengal’s
famine, and prostitution.
Ahmad Farāz is the leading ghazal poet now. A former professor at the
Peshawar University Farāz has achieved tremendous fame at a young age and
received almost all national and international awards in Pakistan, India and else-
where. His works have been translated in many languages including Chinese, German
and French. His language is simple and popular especially among singers of the sub-
continent. One stanza from is ghazal follows:
“meri garden mein bāhein dāl di hain
tum apney āp sey ukta ga-ey kya
[You put your arms around my neck

have you become tired of yourself?]
The couplet expresses a surprise for an unusual or unexpected behavior of a

lover. Firāq had commented on his work, saying, “his poetry represents a new voice
and specific individuality in Urdu language.” The following couplets are from his
most popular poems”
“ab key bichrey to shā-ed kabhi khwabon mein milain
jis tarah sūkhay huway phūl kitābon mein milain
tū khuda hai na mera ishq farishton jaisa

donon insān hain to kyūn itney hijābon mein milain
[If we part this time perhaps we will meet in our dreams (only)
(or) like dried flowers that one (unexpectedly) discovers in books
You are no (invisible) God nor our love is not that of angels
We’re both human so why must we meet under cover?]
In Farāz’s opinion human affairs should be open and free of hypocrisy.
12.2 MUSHAIRA CULTURE
Mushaira remains a very popular cultural/secular institution specific to Urdu

everywhere, including the United States. Rooted in Delhi/Agra culture (Chapters VIII
and IX), it has grown from a semi-academic gathering to a cultural/commercial
venture. Niaz Ali Pareshan of Agra, as noted, had organized one for his own name/
fame. Moulvi Karimuddin (1821-1879) of Delhi has organized monthly sessions to
support his monthly journal. Farhatullah Beg (b.1883) of Delhi328 wrote a hypo-
283
thetical mushaira supposedly set in July 20, 1845. In this imagery he gathers master
poets, Mir, Ghalib, Dagh, and describes the so-called mushaira convention, or adāb.
This book, titled Dehli ki Akhri Shama or Delhi’s Last Candle Flame has served as a
model ever since.
In a standard setting now, poets are seated on a dais or platform in a semi-circle
facing the audience with the sadr-e-mushaira (chairperson, or master of ceremony),
usually a senior poet, or high official, in the center. The chairperson’s, or nazim’s,
introductory address, which usually includes a brief introduction of participating
poets, sets the clock in motion. Individual poets are then invited by the chair to recite,
in a pecking order, the younger or not-so-famous poets preceding the well-known
senior masters. It is a tricky job, as failure to follow the sequence is considered disre-
spectful and rude. It is thus politically sensitive for the organizers and the chair-
person. Poets are supposed to recite just one poem, but on demand from the audience
and with the chair’s permission or request may go beyond one. The famous poets
usually get these requests, considered a privilege. Recitation is usually interactive
between the poet and audience in the hall or other poets seated nearby. On important
couplets, poets sometime invite the listeners’ attention with phrases such as, “āpki
tawaajeh chāhi-ey” or “āpki tawaajeh ki zarurat hai” (your attention is needed) and
“arz karta hūn” or “arz hai,” meaning “I say that,” and “samāt farmā-iey,” or “please
listen.” After completion of each sheir, or couplet, poets usually pause for applause,
not by clapping but through verbal phrases like, “vāh, vāh,” (a corruption from the
Persian original “bāh bāh,” meaning “good, good”) literally meaning, “vow, vow an
expression of praise with surprise.” Sometimes listeners interact by saying, “bahut
umda or khūb” (very good or too good), kya bāt hai” (what an idea!), or other similar
phrases. Sometimes the poet pauses after the first misra (stanza) or a couplet or even
repeats it for emphasis or to generate curiosity in the audience and then follows with
the second misra, leading to applause.
Applause, hooting, and booing, or even clapping, and short comments are
acceptable culturally, but abusiveness or rowdyism is not tolerated. Listeners some-
times request a repetition of a sheir by saying, “muqarrar irshad” (say it again). Tradi-
tionally this is a form of flattery and poets feel privileged. These tidbits of the
mushaira culture are the enjoyable part, including funny comments and counter-com-
ments. A lot of people, especially the young students, enjoy this sub-culture or “side-
shows” more than the actual poetry, which some don’t even care to understand.
Serious and interactive listeners usually take the front rows to avoid distractions – the
hooters and the fun-seekers usually fill the back rows sometimes to avoid being
detected. A standard session will last for about four hours sometimes, with a break. In
the modern version, all poets usually sit in the front row, and the master of ceremony
invites them by turn. The actual mushaira may be preceded by dinner and interrupted
by a tea break. Hindi’s kavi sammelan, a clone of mushaira, usually follows this
model; but now Hindi and Urdu sessions are usually combined in India and else-
where, the word “mushaira” being an accepted word in Hindi dictionaries.
328. Mirza Firhat Ullah Beg (1998), pp. 29-34.
284
12.3 MUSHAIRA – ORGANIZERS – POETS
During the past century, colleges and universities have been the most famous
centers for mushairas. Universities in Lucknow, Lahore, Aligarh, Allahabad,
Hyderabad, and Karachi all organized mushairas. The city of Aligarh had organized
some famous sessions at exhibitions or “numāish.” In addition, hundreds of societies
and “bazm” have been organizing them for over a century. Some centers have surely
outshone others in these ventures. Mushairas at the Muslim boarding house of Alla-
habad University, Islamia College, Lucknow, and a few other voluntary organiza-
tions, such as “Bazme-riaz-e-adab” of Allahabad, were exemplary. The most
significant and critical element in the mushaira culture is the role of the so-called
“muqāmi sho’ara,” or local poets. In a typical session, except for a few celebrities,
local poets act as fillers. These poets are the unknown soldiers of Urdu and make up
the critical mass necessary to generate gems and celebrities or major poets. They
organize and fill various “bazm” societies and cultural clubs to organize mushairas
and seminars, teach and inspire youth, and serve Urdu voluntarily. In the city of Alla-
habad, for example, dozens of poets, such as Tegh, Bismil, Rāz, etc., fall in this cat-
egory, as commented by Prof. Aqeel.329 Rahmat Allahabadi was another one of these
gentlemen during the 20th century. Born at Lahore (1905-1967) and raised in Alla-
habad, Abdul Majeed Khan also known by the title, Rahmat, had his education at
Allahabad, Aligarh, and Agra Universities, and served as a teacher in government
colleges. At Iqbal’s death (1938) he founded Bazm-e-Iqbal, or Iqbal’s Society, at
Nainital in U.P. to hold monthly mushairas. The bazm later moved to Allahabad and
was re-named “Bazm-e-Riaz-e-Adab” or “Society of literary diligence.” In the 1950s,
this society held two national All-India mushairas relayed by All India Radio, with
participants like Firāq, Jigar, Mehshar, Nushur Wahidi, and several locals, including
Rahmat himself. A great organizer and a quality poet, Rahmat’s role model was Iqbal.
Two verses from his work are quoted:
“Jām mai mat barha meri jānib
Umr bhar ka azāb rahney dey
And,
“Jānta hūn haqeeqat-e-dunya
Hai yeh mauj-e hebāb rahney dey”
[Do not give me the wine glass

keep this sin of a lifetime away from me
I know the reality of this world

It is like a bubble on a wave]
In one quatrain he sounds like Iqbal:

“ho gawāra to gharibon kay nighebān bano
mard maidān bano, sahebay imān bano
329. S. M. Aqeel (1995) in Syed Amjad Husain, Vols. 49-50, pp. 109-115.
285
yūn to hindu bano chāho ya musalmān bano

mukhtasar yeh meri-jān tum insān bano”
[If you wish, become a protector of the poor

be a man of action and be a believer too
(you) can be either a Hindu or a Muslim
in brief, my dear, be a (good) human being]
Many poets in this category and contemporaries of Rahmat, this author’s father,
had served Urdu in other cities, Nasur Wahidi and Fana at Kanpur, Mehshar at
Mirzapur, Arshi of Lucknow, etc. Another such poet, Faiyyaz Gwaliari, headed the
Urdu Bazm at Gwaliar.
Another poet in this category was Amin Salonvi (1901-1983), a noted jour-
nalist of Lucknow, who, according to his physician son of New York, Dr. Irfan Amin,
was born and raised in Rai Bareilly, U.P., and later moved to Lucknow. Amin Salonvi
had organized a famous All-India mushaira at Lucknow in 1938 at the time of Hindu-
Muslim unity and INC-ML coordination.330 Many top poets like Josh, Jigar, Shaukat
Thanvi, and others had participated along with himself. Salonvi’s poetic work shows
a bit of national fervor; two stanzas from his poem on the plight and inaction of
Indians are quoted below:
“mit chukey hain azmat-e-dereena kay naqsh-o-nigār
tujh se cheena ja chukka hai tera sab uzzo-viqār
tu magar hai khwab mein tujh ko nahein kuch bhi khayāl

terey chehrey par nahein hai āaj bhi gard-o-malal”
[Your ancient greatness and grandeur are destroyed

(your) respect and fame has been snatched away
You are asleep, you do not care and are not even anxious?
Even today there is no trace of sadness on your face]
There are, of course, thousands of such poets whose work even has some
quality as cited above. Many such poets really have served as a nucleus for Urdu’s
proliferation overseas, including New York. They are included in a separate chapter
on global Urdu.
Thematic Poetry
Among various themes in Urdu, “Marsias,” or lamentation/obituaries, has
acquired a religious halo and specialized with Muslims’ commemoration of mar-
tyrdom of “Hussain,” prophet’s grandson.
Tanz-o-Mazah, or wit, humor, including some satire and caricature, is another
popular mode. As an ancient art started by Sumerians (Chapter III), it has spread to
every language/culture. In Urdu it is traceable to Jafar Zatli, Hatim, and Akbar
330. Salonvi Amin (1960), p. 1.
286
(Chapter VIII and IX). Dilawar Figar (1927-1998), who was born in Badayun and
lived in Pakistan, had been another famous poet after Akbar. Sarfaraz Shahid of
Pakistan is another famous one.331 He picks up an interesting theme on the speech
adjustment of Lucknow people proud of their chaste Urdu speech when settled in
Punjab with a different accent.
“bas gā-ey Punjāb mein ru-iee ko ron kehney lagey
dilbaran-e Lucknow ū-iee ko uon kehney lagey
āj kal rang-e-zabān kuch aur hai
shokhi va husn-e bayān kuch aur hai
āp ko tum tum ko tu aur tu ko ton kehney lagey
[Settled in Punjab (they) call ru-iee (cotton) ron (wool or yarn)

dear people of Lucknow now say uon (oh) instead of ū-iee
these days the color is quite different
wit and beauty of speech is quite different
They now say, tum for āp (you), Tu for Tum (thou) and Ton for Tu (thou)
oun, ton, tu are part of Punjabi Urdu.
Satirical themes remain popular in Urdu culture. In India, Aejaz Uddin Shah, or
“popular Meeruthi,” has been active in mushairas everywhere, including New York.
Khalid Irfan of New York is another rising poet in this category.
Communal Riots always remain a current theme for Urdu poets, who tradi-
tionally are bleeding-heart socialists and human rights champions. Communal riots
are an incessant evil in the subcontinent. Two communities very often are Hindu and
Muslim in India, or Shia and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, or lower and upper caste, or
they are interracial and regional. They are usually politically engineered, and even the
police and judiciary may be collaborative. Some major riots have even aroused global
outrage, i.e., anti-Sikh after Indira Gandhi’s murder, anti-Muslim in various cities
after the destruction of Babri Mosque in U.P. and Bombay and a recent one in Gujrat
in 2002. In almost every mushaira, a preceding riot provided the idea to some poets.
Jigar wrote several poems on post-partition riots at Delhi and other cities; one
example is:
“Dehli va Dehradūn, Noakhali va Bihār
insān hai aur mātam-ey insān hai āj kal”
[Delhi and Dehradūn, Noakhali and Bihar

wherever there is man there is grieving for man these days]
As stated earlier, many poets have written on this topic. Sahir, a Muslim, had
also witnessed anti-Hindu riots in Punjab. In a mushaira at Lahore, Pakistan, where
he had migrated earlier, Sahir recited the following:
“chalo voh kufr kay ghar se salamat ā ga-ey leykin
khuda ki mumlikat mein sokhta jānon pe kya guzri
331. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 581-587.
287
[Well, now I have come safely away from the land of unbelievers
(but) what of the suffering of humans burned in this God’s country?]
In the same meter also used by Jagannath Azād, Sahir recited about anti-
Muslim riots in a Mushaira in Allahabad:
“zameen nay khūn ugla āsmān ney āg barsā-iee
jab insānon kay dil badley to insānon pe kya guzri
[Earth spilled blood and the sky rained fire

when men’s heart changed, (see) what happened to men]
Anjum Irfāni expressed his frustration on persistent riots even after a gener-
ation:332
“dey dey kay lahu kab sey isay seench rahay hain
yak jehti ka yeh paer hara hee nahein hota
yeh kaisi adālat hai yahān kaise hain munsif

qātil ko jahān khauf-e saza hee nahein hota”
[How long have we nurtured it with our blood

but this tree of unity and integration doesn’t turn green
What kind of judiciary and judges are these?

Murderer is not fearful of his punishment]
Other important themes such as socialism, communism, negativism against

religion, criticism of governments, etc. remain current among Urdu poets, as noted
earlier.
12.4 URDU PROSE/CULTURAL FLOW
As reviewed in Chapter IX, much of the action now driven by Urdu/Hindi

prose as the utility/medium in every field, academics, politics, show business, com-
merce, and even religions, can be linked to the Delhi area, or the hybrid late-Moghul
culture, which was seeded everywhere largely through the efforts of Delhi College
alumni. FWC, Urdu translators too were from the same cultural area. Urdu prose as a
medium, and its inherent “Indianness,” were disseminated in India in the 19th century
and subsequently globally in the 20th century.
DC and its follow-up venture, the scientific society, are the key, which laid the
foundation for the Urdu language department first at Allahabad University (1924) and
then at Aligarh, Hyderabad, and Punjab (Lahore). But the department at Allahabad
was seeded indirectly much earlier at its core the Muir Central College in 1860s by
332. Syed Abdul Bari (1998), pp. 87-121.
288
DC alumnus, Zaka Ullah as professor of Persian. Zaka Ullah (Chapter IX), by his
enormous writing in Urdu, created a space and need for Urdu. Initial professors of
Allahabad and other universities, such as Dr. Nami, Dr. Zubaid Ahmed and Rashid
Ahmed Siddiqi and Abdul Haq at Hyderabad, Mohammad Hussain Azad, a DC
alumnus at Lahore, and Mehmood Shirani later and their follow-up generation of
Ph.D.’s, professors, writers, and teachers had covered the colleges of the entire sub-
continent with Urdu and its culture. Hindi prose, as noted earlier (Chapter IX and X),
arose secondarily as a Nagari clone of Urdu but had some inspiration and assistance
from the new Bengali literature. Modern secular prose of Urdu and Hindi are indistin-
guishable, but for script, as we will see in the next chapter.
Urdu’s historians like Dr. Salim Akhtar, Prof. N. H. Naqvi, and others divide
the prose under various headings—novels, fiction, stories and drama—all having an
end use for leisure reading, fun, or life-of-mind material.
Life-of-Mind Prose
These include novels, fiction, or afsāna stories, satire/humor, biographies,
travel stories, commentaries, sketch profiles or khākay, all having their earliest begin-
nings at Delhi, Aligarh, and FWC. A short review of the prose of the past century pro-
vides a glimpse of evolving Urdu.
We begin with Mr. Rajab Ali Sarwar (1786-1869), an early prototype in the
field. Born at Lucknow, Sarwar had moved between Delhi, Patiala, Lucknow, and
Banaras and supported by royalties. His first, Fasāna-e-Ajāaib, or Wonderful Fiction,
was written in a formal and complex idiom and was translated by Mir Amman in
simpler Urdu. Sarwar wrote several others: Shar-i-Ishq, or Evil Love, Shagūfa, or
Blossom, a love story, and Shabistan-e-Muhabbat, or Nights of Love is a selection
from Arabian Nights.
Nazir Ahmed, Ratan Nath Sarshar, Abdul Haleem Sharar, Mirza Ruswa,
Rāshidul Khairi and a few others were also early contributors, until Prem Chand rev-
olutionalized short stories and novels.
Nazir Ahmed (1836-1912) is regarded as the father of the Urdu novel and
created some hand written material, several stories in installments to educate his
daughters. The material, later compiled as Story of Sughra and Kubra (his younger
and older daughters), is a reform-oriented novel published in 1869. This is a
landmark along with another novel Taubatun-Nisūh or Repudiation or Remorse of
Nisūh is his claim to fame. The hero, Nisūh, after a delirious dream of social ills,
launched a reform program in his family. The famous hypothetical characters, “Mirza
Zahir Dar Baig” or “Mr. Pretentious,” represented a typical middle-class hypocrite,
and “Ibnul waqt,” an opportunist, are Nazir Ahmed’s creation. His other novels focus
on the ills of polygamy and the need for widows to re-marry.
Ratan Nath Sarshar (1847-1902), a Kashmiri Brahmin of Lucknow, lived
through the city’s dying culture and advent of British involvement. Working as editor
of Awadh Akhbar, a Lucknow newspaper, he wrote a series of stories creating a char-
acter, “Mian Azād,” or “Mister Free” and his adventures through contemporary
society along with another comical character “Khoji,” a self-serving, fearful, cow-
ardly, opportunistic hyperbole. The series, later published in 1888, as a voluminous
book of 4000 pages titled Fasāna Azād (Fiction of Azād) is unparalleled and regarded
289
a landmark. Sarshar wrote several other novels and later moved to Hyderabad, where
he died.
Abdul Haleem Sharar (1860-1926). Born at Lucknow and educated at Calcutta,
Sharar too worked with the Lucknow newspaper, Awadh Akhbar, and later edited his
own magazine, called “Dil-e-Gulzar.” Sharar, who wrote more than a hundred books
and numerous articles, is regarded as an outstanding novelist.333
Mirza Hadi Ruswa (1858-1931) of Lucknow was highly educated in modern
science and had earned a Bachelors degree from the Punjab, an Engineering degree
from Roorkee as well as a Ph.D. in Chemistry from an American University. Ruswa,
a poet and a novelist, is acclaimed for his masterpiece, Umrāo Jan Ada; a story of an
abducted girl sold into prostitution and singing, i.e., “Tawāef” culture described
earlier (Chapters VIII and IX). Ruswa created a stage set to reveal the hypocrisy,
exploitation, and shallow double-standards. People from all walks of life visit the set
and uncover these social ills. The basic story, with numerous variations, has led to
several movies and other novels. Ruswa, meaning “infamous,” had become famous
for this particular work.
Munshi Prem Chand (1880-1936), the founder of PWM, champion of Muslim-
Hindu Unity, and a devout Gandhian, was an institution in himself. Born as Dhanpat
Rai in a Kayastha family, Prem Chand (pen name) lived through poverty, the exploit-
ative caste system, saw farmers’ plight and corrupt Indo-British bureaucracy. His
main creation has been “Afsāna” (fiction or short stories) on social issues in both
Muslim and Hindu systems. He has written some masterpieces such as Bewa
(Widow), Bāzār-e-Husn (Beauty Mart), Gaou Dan (Charity of Cow), Ghaban
(Embezzlement), and more. His main characters are the underdogs, a victimized
farmer, laborer, widow, a lower-class Hindu, and so on. His main script was Urdu, but
he later used both Urdu and Hindi.
Krishen Chandra (1912-1977) a teacher and lawyer, and active member of
PWM, wrote some eighty or more novels/fiction focused on socialist themes. A few
important ones are: Shikast (Defeat), Bāwan Pattey (Fifty-two Cards), Kaghaz Ki
Nao (Paper Boat) etc. Asmat Chughtai (1915-1991), an Aligarh alumnae and a com-
mitted socialist, lived in the midst of the film industry. As a novelist and fiction writer
she focused on middle-class Muslim girls, whom she had watched from close range.
Her famous works include Ziddi (Stubborn), Māsuma (Innocent), and Aek Qatra
Khūn (A Drop of Blood). Rajinder Singh Bedi (1915-1985), a contemporary of
Krishen Chandra also wrote a lot and served in the film industry. Qurat-ul-Ain Haider
(b.1927), an Aligarh alumnae and currently a leading novelist, has focused on pro-
gressive ideas, women’s exploitation, victims of riots, and India’s partition. Her
latest, Āg Ka Darya (River of Fire) conveys a similar theme.
Qāzi Abdul Sattar (b.1930) of Aligarh University, currently a leading novelist,
has focused on the old feudal system and gained popularity through historical novels.
Prof. Naqvi 334 and others provide a long list of many others, including Khwaja
Ahmed Abbas, famous for leftist themes, Jamila Hashmi, famous for her Talāsh-e-
333. S. N. Naqvi (1997), pp. 303-323.

334. S. N. Naqvi (1997), pp. 336-368.
290
Bahārān (Search for Spring), Intesar Hussain for Basti (Habitat), Qudratullah
Shahāb for Ya Khuda (O God), Salim Akhtar for Zabt Ki Deewār (A Wall of
Patience).
Some have exclusively focused on “Afsāna” or fiction. Sajjad Haider Yaldrum
(1880-1943) a father who inspired his daughter, Qurat-ul-Ain Haider, a leader in this
field. Upendra Nath Ashq (1910-1996) was apparently inspired by Prem Chand.
Some of his famous titles include, Qafas (Prison), and Nāsur (Chronic Wound).
Sudarshan (1896-1967), Ali Abbas Hussaini (1897-1969), Akhtar Raipuri, Akhtar
Orainvi (1910-1977) were some of the other famous fiction writers.
Sa’adat Hasan Minto’s work is famous for its sensuality and for “Khākay” (life
sketches). Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Mohammad Hasan Askari, Hans Raj Rehbar,
Prakash Pandit, Ram Lal, Ibrahim Jalees, Mahendra Nath, Jilani Bano, Majnun Gora-
khpuri, Balwant Singh, Akhtar Ansari, Hayat Ullah Ansari, and Saliha Abid Hussain
are also considered important fiction writers.
Another type of fiction, i.e., suspense or spy stories, was pioneered in 1950;
Jasūsi Dunya (World of Spying), a series published by Allahabad’s Nikhat Publica-
tions had created a niche after the 1950s. Ibn Safi, a pen name of Israr Nārvi, a former
teacher at the local Islamia College, wrote profusely following the Western model. He
wrote about two hundred and fifty of these, a kind of monthly series which helped
evolve characters like Col. Faridi, Urdu’s Sherlock Holmes, the serious spy master,
his assistant Captain Hameed, a witty semi-comical fun seeker. Spy stories both in
Hindi and Urdu are still popular in the subcontinent.
Portrait, Profile, Sketch, Composition and Commentaries

Sophisticated and creative writing about a person, place, event, ideology etc. is
a refined art and has no clear boundaries. It overflows into satire, biography, and even
serious obituaries. Most prose writers discussed earlier, including journalists, editors,
and satirists, have indulged in it. Farhat Ullah Baig, author of Delhi’s mushaira had
profiled Ghalib, Mir, and Zauq from just hearsay. His profile of his teacher, the
famous Nazir Ahmed, was a sellout. Prof. Rashid Ahmed Siddiqi (1918-1977),
another leader in this discipline, was the first Chairman of the Urdu Department at
Aligarh University and also its alumnus. Much of his work is Aligarh-oriented and
includes Āshufta Bayani Meri (My Perplexed Narratives), Sheikh Niazi and Zakir
Sahib (Mr. Zakir). The latter is focused on his friend, Zakir Hussain Khan, the ex-
President of India and a former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh University. Shaukat
Thanvi, a famous satirist, and Minto had been other writers within this field. Mushtaq
Ahmad Yusufi seems to be the leading writer now, whose collection, Āb Gum
(Invisible Water), Chiragh Taley (Under the Lamp), is extremely popular. The enter-
tainment derived from reading these books is really culture-specific and precisely
Urdu-specific, translation being a sure demise.
Mukhtar Masood has also gained significant fame for his Safar Naseeb
(Fateful Journey) and Awaz-e-Dost (A Friend’s Voice). The last one focuses on celeb-
rities from pre-partition Aligarh to Pakistan, including Mr. Beck, a famous Aligarh
Principal, Mr. Jinnah, and Arnold Toynbee.
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Biographical material sometime creeps into these commentaries. “Yādon Ki

Barāt335 (“A Run of Memories”) is a voluminous work by poet Josh Malihabadi, full
of profiles, attractive factual anecdotes, and funny episodes involving persons like
Firāq, J. L. Nehru, Patel, and Maulana Azād. Another variety with a familial focus is
a recent development. "Yādon Ki Mahek" (Fragrance of Memories), authored by a
former Chairman of Chemistry at Aligarh University, Dr. Fasih Siddiqi,336 very elo-
quently portrays the struggle of the Muslim middle-class in post-partition India, set in
the cities of Lucknow, Aligarh, and New York. The book, initially a serial in Qaumi
Awāz, a Lucknow newspaper, is interesting reading and provides emotional reso-
nance and convergence. Many other high-quality writers like Masood Ashar, Zameer
Jafri, Yunus Butt, and Tabish Dehlvi have produced some rich literature, according to
Dr. Salim Akhtar.337 Newspapers have always provided space for sketches, satire,
etc. Lucknow's famous newspaper Oudh Punch of the 19th century was used by
Akbar Allahabadi, Sarshar, and Chahbast, etc. The paper played a significant role to
lift up post-mutiny doom and gloom.
Travelogue or Safar Nama
“Safar Namey,” or “travel stories,” does have a niche in Urdu prose. The spicy
narrative of Yusuf Khan Kambalposh (1847), focusing on European life of 19th
century (Chapter IX), is the earliest, followed by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s description
of Paris and London. Shibli Nomani’s much celebrated trip to the Middle East and
Turkey338 has also been notable as an experience of an emotional pan-Islamist.
Hussain Amin’s focused journey by air to Saddam Hussain’s Iraq in the 1980s,
perhaps, is the first of its kind in modern Urdu, barring Ibn-e-Insha’s humor-ridden
series. Dajla va Farāt Tak (To Euphrates and Tigris) of Hussain Amin, a journalist
from Lucknow, provides interesting anecdotes, besides historical perspective on sites
and glimpses of modern socialistic-secular Iraq.339 Ibn-e-Insha’s travel series are
exceptional in Urdu literature, combining sight-seeing with plenty of humor.
Travel stories have always been fascinating since Ibn-e-Batuta’s Rahla in
Arabic, and Urdu literature has gained some mileage in this specialty. Raza Ali Abidi
of BBC’s Urdu service has written a few interesting ones. Sheer Darya (Sweet River)
takes him along River Sindh, and the other, Jarnaili Sarak (Grand Trunk Road) pro-
vides a spicy but accurate and enjoyable narrative on city places along the famous
Grand Trunk Road, the East-West Highway of the subcontinent linking Peshawar and
Calcutta.340 It covers cities, craft, colleges, architecture, art, buildings, business,
people and their politics, pains and pleasures of the terminal cities, and also those in
between, such as Kanpur, Aligarh, Allahabad, Lahore, Amritsar, and Agra etc.
Pakistan’s periodical, “Sayyara Digest,” according to Salim Akhtar, has been
focusing on travel series specifically.
335. Malihabadi Josh (2003).

336. Fasih A. Siddiqi (2000).
337. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 520-525.
338. Hamid Hasan Qadri (1995), pp. 791-799.
339. Amin Hussain (1983).
340. Raza Ali Abidi (1995).
292
The chapter resumes the review of modern literature in twentieth-century Urdu,

with discussions about major poets, Iqbal, Firāq, Farāz, and Sāhir, and their work.
Major themes covered by Urdu poetry were freedom movements, partition riots, and
ongoing Hindu-Muslim riots. The chapter recognizes Iqbal as the leading poet of
India in any language. The chapter also reviews the stage setup of mushaira as an
Urdu-specific institution and also recognizes the role of unknown poets who provided
the critical mass necessary for excellence in poetry. A short review of Urdu prose, its
trend, varieties, and authors is also included in the chapter.
293
CHAPTER XIII. HINDI’S EVOLUTION THROUGH THE 20TH
CENTURY
13.0 INTRODUCTION
As the chief vision and mission of Hindi to be the sole national language failed,
it was able to achieve two objectives, though unplanned: one was Muslims’ adoption
of Hindi and; the other, a covert one, was to maintain a stranglehold by the elite upper
caste petty bourgeois, through English Medium education, over the illiterate masses
and semi-literate, or others educated through the Hindi medium for almost a full
century until the 1990s job reservation (50%) for the lower and backward castes. The
elite’s domination was maintained by keeping the masses away from education, by
never making education mandatory for all, (unlike the Western democracies), and
also by maintaining two standards of education: English medium for the rich and
Hindi-medium for the poor. For the top administrative positions and professional edu-
cation, English remains most critical in India and the entire South Asia.
The double standard was almost a tradition among politicians through the
double talk: sermons on Hindi for the masses, but not for their own children. Motilal
Nehru, a former president of INC and HMS, created uproar when his granddaughter,
Indira Nehru (Gandhi), a former Prime Minister, joined St. Mary’s Convent English
medium school at Allahabad, at a time when Hindi protagonists were opposed to
English also. The Nehrus did not relent but hired a home tutor for Hindi.341 This
double standard and national hypocrisy still lives on.
13.1 LANGUAGE EVOLUTION AND STREAMS
Hindi’s growth had two booming phases, coinciding with the rise of Hindu
nationalism: First, after the advent of the Arya Samaj Movement; and second, after its
341. Mohan Anand (1970), p. 95.
295
recognition as a second language (1900) as reviewed in Chapters IX and X. Its third

surge between the partition (1947-60s) and the anti-Hindi debacle led to a plateau and
even deterioration, if one defines deterioration by the re-integration of Arabic/Persian
words. One important and publicized aim through Hindi of Hindu nationalists was a
pseudo-political mission—“saving Hindus and/or India from the political domination
of Muslims through Urdu.” This having been fulfilled after 1947, the drive for Hindi
had really dissipated. Originally sold as a “for Hindus only” language, Hindi adopted
by Muslims has turned into an “Islamic language,” if there is such a thing. Hindi now
ranks as the third most useful language among Muslims of the subcontinent, after
Urdu and Bengali. Hindi expectedly disappeared from Pakistan, having had no utili-
tarian value even for the Hindus in that area even before partition.
India’s partition and the adoption of Hindi (1949) posed tremendous challenge
for its growth. A whole lot of Urdu technical terms from all departments had to be
replaced. Newer scientific terms had to be updated. An enormous amount of hard
work went into developing an Urdu-Hindi dictionary of some 80 pages, published in
1948. A newer edition (1995) now contains thousands of entries focused on offices,
assemblies, the judiciary, education, and religions. By 1954, when this author was in
the eleventh grade, books in all sciences translated from Urdu and English into Hindi
became available. Those opting for the Hindi medium had to face serious difficulties,
as lectures were still in English, and then again switching to English at the university
level and professional colleges meant significant hardship. These Hindi enthusiasts
very rarely, if ever, reached medical colleges or engineering schools.
General development in literature, especially poetry, had faced a dilemma.
Poets, as discussed earlier (Chapter X), had still used Arabic-Persian words, since
many of them knew Urdu as well. They also opted for Khari boli, though considered
by many as Urdu-specific and therefore undesirable.We find three streams, or trends,
visible from the 1950s onwards:
High Hindi: This was high literary Hindi, packed with SKT words and virtually
free of Arabic-Persian. Poets like Mahadevi, Verma, Pant, and a few others had free
reign, impressing mainly a Hindu audience with mythological respect for SKT, the
amount of high SKT determining its quality. This high Hindi was set for textbooks on
Hindi as a subject; the trend seems to be cooling off, as we will see.
Life-of-mind Hindi: This was, and still is, meant for leisure reading, i.e., news-
papers, light fiction, and novels for recreational reading. It is easier and sounds like
Urdu, with a fair mixture of Arabic-Persian words. Authors with knowledge of Urdu,
like Prem Chandra, were the masters of this style. There are a whole lot of them now
writing for popular magazines like Dharmyug, Sarita, and Sushma. In this particular
brand, good quality means a fair balance and avoidance of SKT, if possible. English
words are freely used at times, e.g., telephone, radio, school, college, home work,
class, teacher, etc., instead of SKT equivalents. The trend for excessive use of SKT
that re-emerged after 1947 had fallen into disuse by the 1960s. The use of Arabic-
Persian, however, is quite prevalent now.
Urdu by the Name of Hindi: The best example is show business, especially
films from Bombay, where the quality of language has been Urdu and has not shown
296
Chapter XIII. Hindi’s Evolution through the 20th Century
any change since partition. Urdu lives on under a new name, Hindi, which had been
its original name for centuries.
These trends and their evolution will be noted, as we review Hindi literary
culture briefly.
13.2 CREATIVITY AND SUBSTITUTION
The substitution of Persian-Arabic words labeled as “foreign” by difficult SKT

words started at FWC, and had already created “high Bengali” and rich Bengali liter-
ature and Bangla textbooks. After the 1860s Bengalis’ drive and skill to create San-
skritized “Hindi” as the future national language had become a significant tool for
transforming Khari boli Urdu into Khari boli Hindi by the 1880s. The process went
quite well as the SKT words/idioms equivalent of Persian-Urdu words were readily
available from Bangla sources. In fact, it went a bit further, as by the 1930s, linguists
had recognized the loans of Dravidian and Munda in SKT. So, in the evolving lan-
guage, many Munda and Dravidian words were also replaced by those created from
SKT. For example, some replacements were: larka (boy), larki (girl) became balak
and kanya, respectively. Pāni (water) became jal, a Munda word; they did not pick āb
or āv of Vedic SKT, perhaps to hide SKT’s linkage with Sumerian.
The substitution was certainly a creative business, which indirectly enriched
the Urdu language of both India and Pakistan. We will review some examples to
appreciate in retrospect this historical process. From the dictionary of Mr. Ram
Nagri342 of Banaras about 5% randomly chosen words from about five thousand
entries are reviewed. The Urdu word is followed by the English meaning in paren-
theses and then its equivalent substitute from SKT tatsams or Tad Bhava.
Âb (water) jal, āpas (mutual) parasper, ākhir (last) samāpt, ādmi (man) manush,
ārām (rest) visrām, ārzu (wish) kāmna, āfat (distress) āpatti, āzād (free) sutantr, āwāra
(vagabond) kucharitr, āwāz (sound) dhwa-ni, ā-ieena (mirror) darparn, akhbār (news-
paper) samācār patr, ajnabi (stranger) aparicit, afsar (office) adhikāri, agar (if) yedi,
aksar (often) adhiktar - another ingenious one in the series is ātash bāzi (fireworks)
agni kreera, literally “fire play.” A few more in the "A" series, but under the Arabic
letter aien, are: ādat (habit) prakirti, āsiq (lover) premi, ālim (learned) gyani, ajeeb
(wonderful) āshcariey pūrn, aqal (wisdom) buddhi, ārz (request) āvedan.
A few examples in the “B” series are: bārish (rain) varsa, bijli (electricity) vid-
diyut, bāl (hair) kesh, bāri (turn) kram, baraf (ice) him, bād (after) pashcat, bahādur
(brave) vir, bayān (narration) kathan, becāra (helpless) nirupā-ey, bekār (unemployed
or useless) nirarth, bimār (sick) rogi, bādla (revenge) pratisodh, bādan (body) shareer,
etc. These simple Urdu words are still part of everyday speech but got zapped by
“high Hindi.”
Some with the letter “C,” sounding like ch in chest, or china etc. are: cāndi
(silver) rajat, raupey, cākar (servant) sevak, catni (sauce) avleh, ciragh (lamp) deepak,
342. Abu Mohammed I. Ramnagri (1995).
297
carbi (fat) maid, cirya (bird) panchi, cirhna (climb) ārohanr, cot (injury) āghāt, cungi
(octroi) seemashulk, cai-en (peace) shanty, cor (thief) taskar, chutti (leave) avkash,
etc. Several of these Urdu words were pre-Aryan and replaced by SKT-derived
words.
Under the letter “D,” we have dakhil (enter) pravisht, darogha (police chief)
sthanpal, dil (heart) hirdai-ey, daftar (office) karya-ley, dusman (enemy) satru, dast
khat (signature) hastākchir, dāwat (invitation) nimantran, dard (pain) peerha, dām
(price) mūlya, darwāza (door) duwar, darbar (court) raj sabha. A few examples with
hard “D,” as in David, are: dāk (mail) patrvibhāq, dhang (manner, process) reet, dāku
(robber) dasyu, dhanca (frame or skeleton) kankāl, panjar.
With the letter “E,” we have a few: ehsān (favor) upkār, erādah (plan) sankalp,
estemāl (use) upyog, eshārah (sign) sanket, entizār (wait) pratiksha, entezām (admin-
istration) vevāstha, emtehān (examination) pariksha.
A few with the letter “F” are as follows: fursat (spare time) avkash, farz (duty)
kalpana, fā-eda (profit) labh, fasād (riot) upadrau, fasāna (fiction) galp, fauran (at
once) turant, faisla (decision) addharan, fauj (army) sena, faqir (beggar) bhishu or
daridra, farmāish (request) anuyācan, fauvāra (fountain) jal prchepak.
With the letter “G,” some selections are: gāl (cheek) kapol, guzar (passage)
gaman, girdan (neck) griva, garam (warm) tapt, gul (flower) pusp, gulshan (garden)
puspbatica, gum (hidden) gupt, ganda (dirty) malyukt, gunāh (sin) hāp, gūnj (roar)
pratidhwani, ghās (grass) trirn, gosht (meat) mas, ghata (rain, cloud) megh or samoh,
ghabrahat (distress) vyakulta. A few of these are pre-Aryan words in Urdu, and some
substitutes are also pre-Aryan, like “pusp,” from Dravidian.
A few examples in Arabic series ghaein [gh]: ghareeb (poor) nirdhan, ghulām
(servant) anucar, ghussa (anger) krodh, ghalat (wrong) anucit, gham (distress) dukh,
ghaur (attention) cintan, ghā-eb (absent) anupashit, ghiza (nutrition) ahār, and ghair
(unrelated) aparicit.
With the letter “H,” we have a few Arabic words: hādsa (accident) durghatna,
hāsil (achievement) prapt, hāl (status or present) avashta, hisāb (account) ghanrit,
hakim (wise) budhiman, halwa (sweet) mishthān, hamla (attack) ākramar, haveli (big
house, mansion) bhavan, haq (truth) satya, hawa (air) vāyu, hosh (consciousness)
cetna, hoshiār (attentive) saudhān, hazam (digest) pācan, hafta (week) saptāh, himmat
(courage) sāhas, hār (defeat) prajay.
With the vowel “I”: inqilāb (revolution) parivartan, inkār (refusal) aswikrit,
ijād (discovery) aviskār.
With the letter “J”: jādu (magic) mantr-tantr, jān (life) pranr, jānwar (animal)
pranree, jurm (crime) aprādh, jism (body) sareer, jaghā, (place) sthan, jang (war)
sangram, jangli (savage) asabh, jawān (youthful) dānsheel, jawāb (reply, answer)
uttar, jheel (lake) sarovar, hawā-iee jahāz (airplane) vayuyān.
With the letter “K” and “kh,” some examples are: kār (work) kārya, kārkhana
(factory) shilpsāla, kāla (black) Krishna, kapra (dress, cloth) vastr, kitāb (book)
pustak, kisān (farmer) krisak, kam (less) niyon, kamar (waist) kati, khāna (food)
bhojan, khār (thorn) katank, khātir (respect) satkar, khāk (soil, dust) dhāl, khālis
(pure) visudh, khabar (news) samacar, kharāb (bad) bharast or nast, khatrāh (danger)
āsanka, khat (letter) patr, khareeda (buy) krey, khazāna (treasure) kosagār, kharc
298
(spending) vyey, khuda (God) eshwar, khilāf (opposite) vipreet, khwāb (dream)
sapna.
“L” has the following: lāsh (dead body) mirtak shareer, lālac (greed) lobh, lakri
(wood) kāsth, lamba (tall) dirdh, laiher (wave) tarang, libâs (dress) paridhan, lāiq
(able) yogya, lacak (flexibility) naman, lat (addiction or habit) dārviyson, larka (boy)
bālak, larki (girl) kanya, larā-iee (war, quarrel) yudh, leykin (but) prantu, and lāl
(ruby, jewel) mārik. In most of these selections commonly-used Urdu words are pre-
Aryan, e.g., larā-iee, lamba, and larka.
Some examples from “M” are: mātha (forehead) lalat, māl (possession, wealth)
dhan or sampati, mālik (owner, boss) swami, pati, mālis (massage) tail, mardan,
mihtās (sweetness) mistrita, mujrim (criminal) aprādhi, muhabbat (love) prem or
sneh, mehnat (diligence) parisram, mahal (palace) bhavan, madad (help) saha-eta,
mazdur (laborer) karamkar, maza (joy or taste) manorangan or swād, mazāq (joke)
nāsya, muskil (difficult) kathin, mash-hoor (famous) prasidh, mazbūt (strong) balist,
musibat (difficulty) vipatti, māloom (informed) vidit, muqābla (match) pratiyogta,
makkār (pretender) kapti, makān (house) stham or greh, maidān (field) chetra,
mausam (season) ritu.
A few examples from the letter “N” are: nāp (measurement) māp, nāshta
(refreshment) jalpan, nazdeek (close by) nikat, nishān (sign) cinh, naqsha (map)
rekha citre, naqli (fake) avastarik, namak (salt) lavarn, naukar (servant) sevak, nuqsān
(loss) hāni, nafrat (hate) ghirran.
Words beginning with “O” are rare. “Overseer” is used in Urdu; the Hindi
equivalent is sātradhar.
“P” has a long list: pāk (clean, pure) pavitra, pāgal (mad) unmat, pūra-pūra
(full) puri, paresān (disturbed) vyakul, pasand (like) echsha, pukār (call) carikar, pul
(bridge) setu, pehla (first) pratham, peysha (profession) vausa-ey.
The “Q” sound of Arabic (Quran) has a large list; some examples are: qānun
(law) vidhān, qatal (murder) hatya, qābil (able) yogya, qismat (luck) bhāgya, qalam
(pen) lekni, qiadi (prisoner) bandi, qasam (vow) sapath, qadam (steps) cararn.
The letter “R” too has a long list: rāz (secret) rahasya, rāsta (path) mārg, rā-ey
(opinion) mantran, rehem (kindness, mercy) daya, rasam (custom) sanskar, rishta
(relationship) sambandh, rishvat (bribe) utkoch, rang (color) varn, roz (daily) divas,
reysham (silk) kaushye, rumāl (handkerchief) mukjmarjni, raushni (light) prakash.
The phoneme [s], or “seen” of Urdu, has two other phonemes, “say” and
“swad” in Arabic, and a retroflex [sh] as in shop. A few examples from this long list
are: sāda (simple) saral, sāl (year) vars, sāmān (generic for all things) samgri, sabzi
(literally greenery, vegetable) sakh-bhaji, sac (truth) satya, safar (travel) yatra, sahāra
(help) adhār, sawāl (question) prasn, sāf (clean) swach, sāhab (respectful title or
mister) mahādai, sābah (morning) prabhat, sirf (only) kewal, saheeh (correct) yathocit
or ucit, sulah (peace) sandhi, sehat (health) swāsth, subāt (proof) pramanr, sawāb
(merit or fruit) pratidan, shādi (marriage or happiness) vivāh or prasanta, shām
(evening) sandhya, sak (doubt) sandeh, shikār (game or hunt) ākait, sharbat (sweet
drink) madhur piye, sharam (shame, shyness or modesty) lajja, suru (start) ārambh,
shareer (naughty) natkhat, etc.
299
The two “T’s,” hard “t” (time) and soft “t” are in good numbers. Urdu or
Arabic [t] include another soft one called “toi”: taj (crown) mukut, tabadla (transfer
or exchange) vinimaiy, tarāzu (scales) tula, tufān (tempest) uqrvarsa, tāqat (power)
sakti, taraqqi (progress) unnati, tāreef (praise) sahrāna or aprasansa, taqdeer (fate,
destiny) bhāgye, talwār (sword) khadag, talāsh (search) sandhān, tinka (small stick)
trirn, tareek (dark) sankeern, tamāsha (play) prekshan or darshan kreera, tez (fast)
teerv, ticket (ticket) parvesh patr, typewriter (typewriter) tankaran, theka (contract)
sanvidha, tonic (tonic) saktiprad.
Very few words in Urdu start with the vowel “U.” Two are as follows: Urdu
(horde, camp) jhund, ulfat (love) prem.
The consonant “V” has a good number of words. Urdu “v” or “vow” also
includes the sound of “w.” A few examples are: vāpis (return) pratyiya vartitiye, vāris
(heir) uttradhikāri, varq (page) parn, vazan (weight) bhar, vafa (loyalty) nirvah, vāda
(promise) pratigya, vaqt (time) samai-ey, vasūl (obtain) prapt, vakil (lawyer) abhi-
bhāsak.
There is no “X” in Urdu. “Y,” or “yey,” has a few examples: yā (or) athwa, yād
(memory) smiriti, yār (friend) priya, yaqeen (trust, belief) visvās, yāni (in other
words) arthāt.
The sound of “Z” here covers four Arabic letters “zāl,” “zey,” “dzwād,” and
“zoi.” A fifth, “szey,” is omitted. Some examples are: zāt (individual or caste) vyukt
or jāti, zarra (particle) karn, zikr (talk or remembrance) varnan, zabān (tongue or lan-
guage) jeebh or bhasha, zukam (coryza) pratishyaye, zameen (land) dharti, ziyada
(more) adhik, zamana (time, phase) kāl, yug, zindagi (life) jeevan, zeher (poison)
vish, zevar (jewelry) ābhūshanr, zarūrat (need) prayojan, ziddi (adamant, stubborn)
hatti, zālim (cruel) atyacāri, zāhir (apparent, visible) viditi, and zilaa (district)
mandal.
In this review of some 300 words one finds a superior creativity, special
mindset and the political motivation of the SKT-Bengali-Hindi scholars. They had to
work hard to bypass all ‘Z’ and other Arabic phonemes, to create meaningful equiva-
lents from a dead language, SKT, frozen perhaps since Panini’s time. They obviously
were driven to create a modern Aryan language for an Aryan-Hindu country with the
explicit aim to eliminate these so-called “foreign” phonemes, or limit them to reli-
gious instruction for Muslims.
From a utilitarian perspective, human efforts never go unrewarded. First, the
effort saved a useful Nagari script from potential extinction as had happened with
Asokan script, abandoned, forgotten, and re-deciphered by the British. Secondly, 20th
century Urdu had been enriched, by absorbing a lot of vocabulary from its synthetic
twin. For example, words like prem (love), samai-ey (time), jeevan (life), ashirbad
(blessing), ashnān (bathing), ākāsh (sky) and thousands of others are adopted in Urdu
dictionaries of India and Pakistan.
In its literary development, as revealed in Chapter X, it had followed Urdu’s
lead but with a more Hindu nationalistic trend. But Hindi too came under some
influence of the progressive movement.
300
13.3 PROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ MOVEMENT (PWM) AND HINDI
As discussed earlier (Chapter XI), PWM, blessed by J. L. Nehru and the

socialist camp of INC and the communists, had been crowded by all well-known
Urdu poets, both Muslims and Hindus as well as Hindi poets, all believers in
socialism. But many Hindi writers in the so-called “Pragati Sheel Andolan” had lost
interest because of the Hindu vs. Muslim politics and pro-Pakistani stance of the
Communist Party. However, the progressive movement itself remained pretty strong
on many campuses even after partition. Allahabad and its politically charged campus
remained active even up to the 1960s with regular meetings of Urdu and Hindi
writers.
Allahabad has been home to the top Hindi writers and poets, like Aligarh,
Lucknow, or Lahore, were to Urdu writers, according to Prof. Aqeel.343 Among the
senior novelists and fiction writers, Shri Krishen Das and Aela Chand Joshi had
national fame; some younger writers of stature included B. P. Gupta, Amrit Rai,
Kamleshwar, Markanday, Amar Kant, and P. C. Gupta. In the 1950s, Vijay Dev
Narain Sahi was among the poets who had represented the younger generation.
A new form of poetry in Hindi was created by Vishneet Kumar; it was Hindi
ghazal, utilizing the Persian style and Arabic-Persian words, then considered a revo-
lutionary step. Vishneet Kumar and Shamsher Bahadur gained significant fame in this
Urdu style. This younger generation of Hindi poets was a challenge to the old masters
who, in fact, invented Hindi poetry packed with SKT words. PWM slowly disap-
peared and Hindi poetry moved in a different direction.
13.4 MODERN HINDI POETRY
Hindi poetry, during the 19th -20th centuries, featuring poets like Mahabir
Prasad Dwedi and Maithli Saran Gupta (Chapter X), had been hesitant to switch to
Khari boli and mixing Persian-Arabic words. Many early poets also wrote Urdu
poetry. During the 20th century and up to the 1960s-70s, one finds a group of dedi-
cated and serious poets, the “master poets,” like Pant, Mahadevi Verma, Nirala, and
Bachan among others, dominating the poetry scene. This group of poets was called
“Chāya Wadi,” according to Prof. Hasan.344 The word chāya means “shadow,” and
wadi means “valley,” and the poets from this group have used symbolism or shadows
to represent different subjects, including romanticism, beauty, relationships, and even
humanism. For example, a beloved is symbolized by a bouquet of flowers or buds, a
lover, by bhaunra, bumblebee or bee, a human emotion like mental stress, by high
wind, storm, or tufān, and happiness or elation, by musical echoes.4 One also finds
examples of the extremely difficult language, “high Hindi,” especially in the works of
Mahadevi Verma. Verma was born around 1908 and had been a leading poet repre-
senting the Chāya Wadi group. Her work is full of emotional themes, sadness, and
343. S. M. Aqeel in Syed Amjad Husain, 49.50 (1995), pp. 109-115.

344. Mohammed Hasan (1993), pp. 203 –218.
301
separation. One piece quoted by Prof. Hasan, 4 which has only 2 Persian words
(underlined) out of 32 (6%), is as follows:
“apney es sūney pan ki - main hoon rani matwāli
praron ka deep jala kar karti rehti diwāli
meri āhein soti hain en honton kay otoń mein
mera sarvasve chipa hai – en diwāni cotoń mein”
[In my loneliness, I am a happy queen

I burn life’s lamp and celebrate diwāli
My sighs are asleep behind the curtain of my lips
Everything is hidden behind the agony of my wounds.]
These verses are straightforward; diwāli is the Hindu festival of illumination

with a myriad of lamps. Mahadevi’s collection includes several publications. Her lan-
guage usually is easy as illustrated above and virtually free of Arabic-Persian words.
Some of her work also reveals a contrast. For example, her “Deep Shikha” is full of
difficult words. A prose piece from her introduction of “deep shikha” is a quote in
point:345
“sdhranta: manus aur sansr ki kriya – prati-kirya se utpann gyn anubhti sab
sanskron ka ai-sa rahas maiye tna-bana buntey caltey hain jo aek r hirdaiye aur mast
isk ko jorey rehta hai aur dusri r jeevan kay liyey aek vistrit pathika prastut kar deta
hai.”..
[Ordinarily from the action-reaction or interaction between man and the world,
the generated knowledge cum experience and all customs intertwine and weave
continually, which on one hand links the mind and heart and, on the other, presents
an expanded or elaborate book for life.]
In this passage, Mahadevi used just one Persian conjunction, “aur” (and), three
times. This kind of very difficult language had evoked repulsion and fear during the
1930s-50s, especially on the progressive campuses. In one episode, when Ms. Verma
addressed the faculty and students of the Hindi Department at Allahabad University,
she had a bitter experience, as witnessed by Prof. Aqeel. Vijay Dev Sahi, a young
Hindi writer and poet, stood up after she finished and said, “Whatever Devi-ji (Ms.
Verma) said, we cannot understand anything of what she said and for whom she
speaks.” This was followed by some unpleasant exchanges, and unfortunately
Mahadevi walked away, insulted as a guest.
Hindi poetry of the first half of the last century often focused on freedom and
revolutionary themes. The works of Sumudra Kumari Chauhan included some fine
inspirational poems. One such poem on the Mutiny of 1857 is titled “Queen of Jhānsi
Lakshmi Bai” who fought the British even until death. It was recited with tremendous
fervor at Kavi Sammelans or Hindi mushairas during the 1940s-50s. Quoted below is
an excerpt from a long poem:
“camak uthi san-sattavan mein
345. Mahadevi Verma (1995), p. 22.
302
voh talwār purāni thi

Bundeli harbolon kay munh
ham nein suni kahāni thi
khūb lari mardani voh to
Jhānsi wali rani thi”
[It glittered in 1857

That sword that was old
From the Bundeli* bards
We heard the story
She, who fought so well
Was the queen of Jhānsi]
*Bundeli refers to a person from Bundelkhand, an area in Southern U.P., where

Jhānsi is located.
Jai Sarkar Prasad, a contemporary of Ms. Verma, was also a highly visible
member of Chāya Wadi group, according to Prof. Hasan. His themes include
romance, nature, and philosophy. But Sumitra Nandan Pant, another contemporary
and a member of PWM, had written a lot on progressive themes like socialism and
humanism. His poem on Taj Mahal presents an entirely new perspective, a reflection
of Hindu philosophy which denouncing the world focuses on the centrality of the
soul. Three couplets from his poem “Taj Mahal,” extracted from Prof. Hasan’s book
are:
“hai mritiyu ka ai-sa amar apā thirve pujan
jab visamr nirjive para ho jag ka jeevan
manave ai-si bhi virkit kya jeevan kay prati

ātma ka apman aou chāya sey riti
sau ko dein hum rūp, ādar manave ka

manave ko hum kusit citre banāvey sau ka
[Oh! What an immortal and celestial worship of death

when gloom and doom impact the life in the world
Man (why) so much attention to this worldly life

this an insult to the soul and respect for its shadow (unreal world).
Colorful celebration of a corpse, is this respect for the human?

Man really lives under the darkness as we glorify the dead.]
Pant’s leftist perspective finds Taj Mahal wasteful, and, in his opinion, it shows
disproportional respect for the dead body rather than the living. Another leftist Urdu
poet, Sahir, a contemporary of Pant, appreciates the visual appeal of Taj Mahal in his
famous poem (Chapter XII), but finds it an arrogant extravaganza by a rich king that
mocks the poor. Pant’s language, too, is packed with difficult words, but one finds
303
that each couplet is rhymed (radeef), although different from each other. This is a
weakness caused by the avoidance of the usage of Arabic-Persian phonemes.
Another famous “Maha Kavi,” or grand poet of Chāya Wadi, Nirala, has been
celebrated as a revolutionary poet. Nirala, according to Prof. Hasan, broke away from
the poetic norms of rhyme, meter, size, etc. This so-called “free style” is similar to
prose. Nirala’s themes have been contemporary and varying. One quote from his
poem, “Delhi,” reflects in the new style his impression of the historical city:
“ni-sitabdh ………………..minar
maun mey maqbarey
bhai mein āsha ko jahān miltey they samā-cār

tapak parta tha jahān ānsun-on se saccha piyar
[Motionless are minarets

tombs are in grief
(Where) with fear, one had received hopeful news

(where) tears falling from eyes reflected true love]
Many younger poets later took to romanticism and broke the stereotype and
self-imposed ban, an antipathy towards Urdu. After the 1920s both Urdu and Hindi
instruction became mandatory. The new generation was impressed by Gandhi-Nehru
ideas of linguistic reconciliation. Writers in this phase were also inspired by the West,
perhaps more than their Bengali neighbors earlier, and made use of a more simplified
and people-friendly Hindi, with a fair usage of Persian-Arabic, which was “taboo”
with the Chāya Wadis. But in this phase visibly dominated by secular politics, there
still existed poets with a “communal” perspective. Among the secular group, Mr. Hari
Vansh Rai Bachchan of Allahabad University, a contemporary of Firaq, had achieved
national fame. Bachchan was greatly inspired by Persian poets, especially Omar
Khayyam. Among his several collections, Madhu Shala, (Pub, or Bar) has been
reprinted 45 times since 1935. According to Prof. Hasan,346 Bachchan’s work repre-
sents a free style translation of Omar Khayyam’s rubai-ees, or quatrains, similar to
Fitzgerald’s in English. A specimen from Madhu Shala is reproduced here:347
“ek baras mein ek bār hi
lagti holi ki jwala
ek bār hi lagti bāzi
jalti deepon ki mala
dunya wālo kintu kisi din

ā madura lai mein dekho
din ko holi rāt diwāli
roz manāti madhu shala

347. H. R. Bachchan (2000), p. 35.
304
[Holi and diwali

come but once each year
But people! Come any day to the pub and see

Every day is holi and every night a diwāli]
Holi, the spring festival of Hindus, is a festive and colorful event, while diwāli
is the festival of lights, also a happy occasion. Bachan used simple language for the
theme in his verses above as he refers to fun in life. He used only 3 Persian words
(underlined).
In the second half of the last century, Hindi poets also seemed to focus on
ancient Hindu themes, like India’s sacredness, unity, and other nationalistic themes,
none reflecting a universal socialism or communism. Socialism, for example, of the
poet Dharam Vir Bharati too is nationalistic and projects a macho mentality,348 moral
superiority, and leadership of India. Some accuse Muslims of being solely responsible
for the division of “Bharat Mata” (Mother India). These younger poets apparently
read their history from Curzon (1905) onwards and had noticed Jinnah, only after
1930s-40s, demanding the creation of Pakistan. Their work lacks sensitivity to the
political rights of Muslims and is naïve about the basic role of political Aryanism and
its inherent Hindu separatism and nationalism.
One such poet is typical of this phase, inspiring the Hindu nationalist and the
general public. His poetic acumen is mediocre, but his themes are representative. He
is Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpai or Bajpai (in East India), India’s first Prime Minister of this
century. His compiled work, My Fifty one Poems, a mix of humanism, philosophy,
and nationalism, has been skillfully commented upon by his biographer, Dr. Sharma.
Born in 1924, Bajpai’s education perhaps included Urdu. His language is typical of
U.P., with about 10-25% Persian-Arabic. An active RSS and INC member, Bajpai got
his political education in Kanpur and became an anti-Gandhi-Nehru-Muslim fire-
brand by the 1950s, and founded the party now called B.J.P., an R.S.S front. A former
journalist, he now represents the softer (secular), conciliatory face of Sarvarkar’s
Hindutva. Although Bajpai is not a known poet, he has written some fine poetry. The
following is a simple triplet revealing his humanism:349
“ādmi na unca hota hai na neeca hota hai
na bara hota hai na chota hota hai
ādmi sirf ādmi
[Man is neither tall nor short

neither big nor small
man is only (just) a man]

349. Atal B. Bajpai (1997), p. 155.
305
He was obviously beyond that “SKT-packing” phase; the verse above has 20%
Persian and is free from SKT tatsams. His next quotation reveals inspirational paro-
chialism, or Hindutva mode. The opening lines of a long poem are:
“pari-chaiy” (introduction) says it all:350
“Hindu tan man, Hindu jeevan rag rag Hindu mera pari-chaiy”
[Hindu is my body and mind, Hindu is life, and each blood vessel is Hindu;
this sums up my identity]
Partition had apparently angered the nationalist Hindu-R.S.S types more than
the others. In the following stanza Bajpai said, “this independence is not yet com-
plete,” and inspires readers to reunite divided India:351
“din dur nahein khandit bhārat ko punah akhand banāein gey
Gilgit sey garo parvat tak āzadi pūrv manāein gey”
[The day is not far (when we) will reunite the divided India from
Gilgit (Pakistan) to Gāro hills (India); and then we will celebrate the real
independence.]
Bajpai has written quite a few poems on Indo-Pakistan issues, warning and
mocking Pakistani leaders, and crying over Kashmir issues.
After becoming the Foreign Minister in the 1970s he revealed a change of
heart, which may have been behind his current peace initiative. One quatrain is an
example:
“Bharat-Pakistan parosi sāth sāth rehna hai
Pyar karein ya vâr karein dono ko hi sehna hai
Rūsi bam ho ya amrike khūn aek behna hai
Jo ham par guzri bacchon kay sang na honey dengay;
jang na honey dehgay”
[India-Pakistan are neighbors and have to live together

Whether it is love or war both have to bear
Whether the bombs are Russian or American bloodletting is the same
We will not let our children experience what we went through;
we will not have another war]
13.4.1 RECENT POETRY
Hindi poetry is focused more on theme than on rhyme, as is clear from the
above examples. Poets are thus able to ventilate fully, sacrificing music worthiness,
radeef, qāfia, meter size, etc. Hindi poets, for this reason, have not achieved the popu-
350. Ibid. p. 55.

351. Ibid. pp. 130-131.
306
larity and fame of Urdu poets. With the passage of time modern Hindi poets have
adopted simple, street-friendly language, while the master poets of Chāya Wadi era
adorn Hindi textbooks as classics. The aversion of Hindi writers to Arabic-Persian
had become diluted, and Arabic sounds, like z, f, aien, etc., are not ignored. This cer-
tainly has been due to an enormous role played by film and television and the bur-
geoning interest in Urdu ghazal over the last 25 years. Most master Urdu poets are
freely available in nagār. Moreover, the political sensitivity towards the resurrection
of Urdu, in general, has changed the climate and has influenced Hindi also. We will
conclude this section with two pieces from a popular leisure magazine, Sarita
(River). In this poem titled “Tasvir bol pari” (The Picture Spoke), a Hindi poet352
expresses himself in simple street language common to the subcontinent; Pakistanis
will call it pure Urdu:
khāmosh labon par
hal cal si lagi
main akela hi tha
tum pās si lagi
dil kay suney tāron mein

jang si chir cali
phir voh din yād āya

jab tum sey nazar mili”
[In the peace and quite, I felt very restless

I was alone but I felt you with me
In my heart’s loneliness a storm had ensued
That reminded me the day when we met for the first time]
Another piece from Sarita also has an Arabic title, “Husn,”353 (Beauty) like
“Tasvir” (Image in Arabic).
“Kya ghajab hai tera husn
es jamaney mein
chera tumhein es kadar ki
pahonch gya thaney mein”
[What a astounding beauty you displayed (that)

over powered me to lose control.
And (I) misbehaved and got into trouble with the law/police]
The poet, Mr. Gupta, used four (25%) Arabic-Persian words in this piece but
has mispronounced the word “ghazab” as ghajab (terrific), “qadar” as kadar (so
352. Harish Chandra Loomi in Vishwanath (1997) (Edit.), p. 54.

353. Brijesh Kumar Gupta in Vishwanath (1997) (Edit.), p. 60.
307
much), “zamāney” as jamāney (these times). This last word changes the meaning
entirely as “jamāney” means “to solidify or gather,” and “zamāna” means “time, or
days, or an era,” which is what he intended to say. The other misspellings would be
fine since there are no alternative meanings and the readers are used to the words
being mispronounced or misspelled.
13.5 HINDI PROSE
Hindi prose, too, has undergone similar linguistic evolution. A piece of prose
by Mahadevi Verma cited earlier represents high Hindi. In 1960 prose had become
simpler, although still relatively free from Arabic-Persian. A piece from Bajpai’s
book354 is a good example:
“meri sab se bari bhl hai rj neeti mein na. Eccha thi ke kuch path pathan karon
ga. Adhyan aur adye vesai ki pari-varik param para ko gey barhoun ga. Ateet se kuch
lunga aur bhavish ko kuch j-oun ga.”
[My greatest mistake was to go into politics. I had wished to do scholarly work
and advance the family tradition of learning and education; to take some from the
past and to pass it on to the future.]
Bajpai, too, only used one Persian conjunction, and this piece reflects Sanskri-
tized high Hindi of 1963. Even in recreational material, language was similar but
changing. In the following piece, the same trend is reflected in both Hindi and Urdu
prose, a people-friendly street language,355 except for the misspelling and mispro-
nunciation in Hindi.
“us ne phis ka kphi kam bhi apney upar ley liya tha tkeh ruci aur bacchey us kay
jeyhen sey nikal j-en. Ai-sey daphtar waley us kay km ki treef mein kehtey hain,
naveen sahab pka km bahut vya-vishthit hota hai, majl hai ki a phile ya aek kgaj edhar
udhar ho ja-ey”
[He had taken over a lot of the office work also so that he could forget Ruci and
the children. And the office people praised him by saying, “Mr. Naveen, your work is
very appropriate; not a single file or paper is ever misplaced.”]
Misspelling remains a problem with Hindi writing because even though
Arabic-specific signs are available, they are ignored. For example, Hindi the letter
[ph] is used for [f] and [j] instead for [z]. This gānwari pronunciation, as it is called, is
common, except in show business, where its use is minimal. Firāq Gorakhpuri had
been very concerned about this and had called it a cultural deterioration. Phonetic
changes and lapses in Hindi spellings have been the subject of many articles and edi-
torials, especially in the 1960s-70s. Dr. M. H. Khan of Aligarh had also critically
lamented the impending change;356 but it is natural and therefore normal.
354. Atal B. Bajpai (1997), p. 155.

355. Bajpai in Vishwanath (1997) (Edit.), p. 60.
356. Masood Hasan Khan (1993), p. 178.
308
13.6 PROSE LITERATURE (LIFE-OF-MIND PROSE)
Prem Chand stands out as the one who fathered short stories/novels and fiction
of the modern variety. He started as an Urdu writer but later switched to Nāgari. His
Nāgari works were also translated and published in Urdu. One example is his famous
novel, Gaudān. Supporting both languages was his progressive ideology.
Hindi prose is massive and its fiction is of very high quality; the subject matter
has focused on contemporary themes, including social ills, such as child marriages,
widow marriages, polygamy, the dowry system, and dowry-related homicides. The
latter ill involves a planned homicide by the husband’s kin because the bride
allegedly did not bring the expected amount of dowry (in cash or kind). A detailed
evaluation of Hindi prose is obviously beyond the scope of this book. Beyond the
social ills, anger over partition had also become an important theme. According to
Prof. Hasan, a major casualty was the absence of Muslim characters in novels and
fiction in which Hindi prose made the most progress.
One famous novelist, Amrit Lal, concentrated on social and cultural changes in
Lucknow. His work includes Kothey Walian, which uncovers an assortment of sad
perspectives in the lives of tawaefs (prostitutes). Other famous works are Būnd and
Samunder (Drop and Ocean) and Naach Rey.
Masūm Raza Rahi, a famous Urdu writer of Aligarh, created a few excellent
works in Hindi. Ādhey Ga-oun Mein is based in his hometown, Ghazipur, U.P., and
reflects on the celebration of Muharram; Topi Shakla focuses on the residential life of
Aligarh University, his alma mater. His best-known work, of course, is the dialogues
of the Hindu epic, Maha Bharat, a serial produced by B. R. Chopra of Bombay. It is
one of the longest and most popular serials watched in the subcontinent. Mr. Rahi, a
creative genius, also added innovative phrases in Hindi literature, equivalent to those
used in Urdu prose: “Ammi-jān” (dear mother) and “Abbu-jān” (dear father), honor-
ifics of Urdu culture, are dubbed “Mata Shri” or “Pita Shri” (mother, madam) or
(father, sir), respectively.
On the theme of partition, according to Prof. Hasan, one written by Yaspal,
Jhūta sach (False Truth), and Amas, by Bheesm Sahani, are prominent ones. Several
works by other important writers, e.g. Bhagwati Charan Verma’s Ākhri dāoń (Last
Move) and Bantey mi tey chitr (Dying and reappearing pictures) focused on the
middle class. Three others—Bharon Prasad Gupta, famous for Ganga Maiya (Mother
Ganges), Uday Shankar Bhat’s Sāgar aur Lehrein (Ocean and Waves), and Sri Lal
Shukla’s Rag Darbāri (Official Tune) —have achieved fame and name in Hindi
prose. They have written many other novels on social themes.
In short stories and fiction, Kamleshwar and Mohan Rakesh concentrated on
emotional and social themes related to partition. Rajendra Yadu, Markandey Nirmal
Varma, Khwaja Badi-uz-zaman, and Kashi Nath Singh have been active on various
perspectives, according to Prof. Hasan.
Hindi drama had a headstart with the establishment of the National School of
Drama at Delhi. Many Western plays were translated in Hindi and Urdu. Mr. Ibrahim
Al-Qazi, according to Prof. Hasan, provided significant leadership. Other plays, such
as Āndh Yuga (Blind Era) by Dharam Vir Bharti, Ādhey Ādhurey (Half and halved),
309
Āsar Ka Aek Din (A day in Asarh) (Asarh being the name of a later summer month)
by Mohan Rakesh have been famous.
13.7 MUSLIMS’ HINDI
Hindi, as stated earlier, has become the third most common language of
Muslims in the subcontinent from a literacy perspective, since reading or writing is
the only difference between Hindi and Urdu. In speech, both are one and the same.
Indian Muslims thus stand out as a unique group. After Urdu and Bengali literacy,
Hindi ranks third among Indian Muslims. In global terms, it is a great distinction.
They are the only group in the world lettered in Nagari, Urdu-Arabic script, and
English (sometimes). Within their own country India, they have an edge over Hindi-
literate Hindus, as they know both scripts and can correctly speak the enriched Urdu-
Hindi of the film and TV market, which is global now. It is of course not exclusive;
many non-Muslims are privy to the same quality language and enjoy this status.
Obviously the special set of circumstances after partition altered the language
policy, and appropriately Muslims adopted a Hindi education. It is hard to get the
exact figures for the number of Muslims literate in Hindi, but it has to be a large
number because of the significant expansion in education. The government’s edu-
cation policy had focused on Hindi in the three-language formula; Muslims from all
states, including the Dravidian speakers from the South, had to learn Hindi as well.
Based on the Muslims’ literacy figures of 1987-88357 provided by Prof. Khalidi (42%
males and 24% females), there were about 50 million (31.5 million males and 18
million females) literate Muslims, in an estimated population of 150 million. Based
on the current census (2001) literacy, figures of about 50%, that number is about 75
million. Of the 75 million, an overwhelming majority must have been literate in
Hindi, since, even in the Muslim Madrasah system, Hindi is mandatory, according to
Mr. Hussain Amin,358 Chairman of Journalism at the prestigious Nadwatul Ulema of
Lucknow, an Arabic-oriented institution. Hindi, having outstripped Urdu literacy
among Muslims, has acquired an “Islamic credential.”
13.8 ISLAMIC CREDENTIAL OF HINDI
It is ironic that 19th century Hindi, with an exclusive “Hindu credential”

(Chapter X), would sport as Muslims’ religious language only a few decades later. It
has accumulated substantial Islamic literature and has now been rendered relatively
indispensable. Material in Nāgari script, in fact, has been accumulating ever since the
arrival of Islam, but its pace had slowed considerably or had even stopped during the
late Moghul period. Since 1947 it has assumed an astronomical growth, as if trying to
make for the lost years.
357. Omar Khalidi (1995), p. 109.

358. Amin Hussain (personal communication)
310
Currently in the 21st century Hindi has every kind of religious literature and is
becoming more voluminous each day. Most importantly, Quranic translation and
commentaries, the Prophet’s traditions, called “Hadees,” are plentiful. Similarly, all
kinds of biographies, called “Jeevinees” in Hindi, of the Prophet and his companions,
Sufis, saints, and Imams are found everywhere. For the average educated Muslim of
Lucknow-Allahabad area, the most relevant script is Nagari; he may be conversant in
the Quran, know Urdu alphabets, and may even declare Urdu as his mother tongue on
census, but would be most comfortable with Nagari. His general religious needs are
met through Nagari. A comparable situation had existed in pre-partition Punjab for
Hindus, who also had most of their religious material in Urdu, including that of Arya-
Samaj. By every standard, Nagari script of Hindi has assumed an Islamic status in
India as much as Urdu or Bangla in West and East India.
13.8.1 HINDI’S RELIGIOUS ISLAMIC LITERATURE
Islamic literature in Hindi is fairly Sanskritized, but not like “high Hindi.” It
does use correct spelling of Arabic words to enable the reader to pronounce correctly,
but pronunciation still remains variable and is based on regional culture. A short
review of Islamic Hindi follows.
Prof. K. S. Rama Krishna Rao (South India) has written a booklet on Islam in
Hindi. An excerpt, with Persian-Arabic underlined, runs as follows:
aek kahawat hai- emndr veyakti khuda ka hai Mohammad to emndr se bhi barh kar
they unkay ang ang mein mnaota raci basi thi. Mnao sahnit-bhte aur prem unki tma
ka sangeet tha. Mnao-seva uska utthn, uski tma ko viksit karma, usey sik-chit
karma, sārns yeh hai ki mnao ko mnao banna unka mission tha.
[It is a saying – honest man is of God. Mohammed was even greater than an
honest man. Humanism was everywhere in his person. Human love and affection
was the music of his soul. Human service, its support, his spiritual development and
his education. In brief to make a man a man was his mission.]
In this Hindi passage, one finds only five out of 55 (10%) Arabic-Persian
words and several SKT tatsams. Khuda, though correctly spelled, will be read as
khuda, meaning “dug up,” by many Muslims also. Another specimen, extracted from
the Prophet’s biography, follows:359
“Hazrat Mohammad ko nabi hwey teen sl hwey. Etney din se piyrey nabi veyak-
tiqat rp sey Islm ki dwat detey rahey. Phir Allah ka hukm hwa ke p kisi sey na dareïn.
Khullam khulla dn ka pracar kareïn aur nidar ho-kar rab ka sandesh sun-ien. Yeh km
pehley qareebi ristey dron sey shuru kareïn aur kuch ndan na mneïn to zara bhi parwah na
kareïn”.
[Three years had passed since Hazrat Mohammad had become a prophet. Dur-
ing this time the beloved prophet had invited people individually toward religion.
359. Mohammed I. Subhāni (2000), p. 85.
311
God’s message came not to be scared of anybody and openly preach God’s message;
first to close relatives and if some were unwise and did not accept, he should not
worry at all.]
In this typical example of Hindi prose there are about 17% Arabic-Persian
words. Much of the Islamic propagation material is in easy language. Obviously the
lack of resemblance between Hindi and Arabic scripts does not disqualify it or any
other from an Islamic title. Urdu, of course, was accorded an Islamic label mainly
because of its resemblance to Arabic script. But content is the main thing that deter-
mines the value and label. As discussed earlier, a language turns into a religious
medium by circumstance, but always retains its general utilitarian value. Hindi cer-
tainly is now counted as Muslims’ language as much as Urdu, Bangla, and Turkish,
etc.
13.9 HINDI’S ARABIC PHONEMES/DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT
Hindi, a phonetic language, is perhaps the richest in phonemes but a bit less
than its twin, Urdu. The problem of incorrect pronunciation remains an issue with
Hindi as it does with others too. In Hindi speech, it is neither new nor unique. An
inherent inability to differentiate between [r] and [l], [v],[b] and [p], [s] and [sh] has
been ingrained for several millennia. The addition of new phonemes through Arabic-
Persian languages had enriched the language as a whole, but phonetic adaptation by
masses never occurred, as these special sounds remained confined to a small number
of urban-based elites educated in Arabic-Persian, about 3% in the 19th century. Fac-
toring in some unlettered associates/workers and relatives of the elite, one can stretch
their number from 3% to about 10%. Thus, about 90% of the people living in urban
and suburban areas had to substitute their own closest phonemes to mimic the sounds.
People use this method in all cultures in their own best way. A few examples are Vic-
toria as Bictoria in Spanish, Fox as Pox in Filipino, Shoe as Su in Gujrat, and Zebra as
Jebra in Bengal, etc.
Hindi’s adaptation to Arabic phonemes followed the same natural law as noted
earlier (Table VI.I). Hindi’s alphabetic modification had included adding signs which
meant to symbolize the new phonemes; but what you read is culture-dependent and
learned from early childhood. One such example: [Ph] ilip in correct English speech
is [F]ilip, though written with the wrong letters. Similarly in Hindi [kh]ūn (blood)
even written incorrectly [kh] will be read correctly by an initiated likewise [z] ālim
(oppressor) and its incorrect [j] ālim will both be read differently, no matter how you
write. In Gujrat and Bengal, these two words will always be jālim; it has been natural
in these areas, no matter how it is spelled.
Thus the six Arabic phonetic package (table VI.I) was substituted and memo-
rized by unlettered masses in villages and cities throughout the Urdu-Hindi belt over
the centuries. When they gained literacy in the 20th century, the modified, Arabicized
alphabets had no effect on their natural speech. Thus, modified Hindi equivalent
letters, q-, kh-, z-, gh-, f- or ph-, sh-, remained unchanged in speech and pronounced
312
respectively c, k, kh, j, g, ph, and s. Some phonetic variations even go deeper and
older than the arrival of Arabic phonemes.
For example, Eastern India and Bengal have had [sh] only and would substitute
all [s] words, i.e., shoap<soap, sholid<solid, shona (gold) <sona, etc. Gujratis will
reverse this, using [s] for [sh], i.e., shoe<su and sherbet<serbet (drink). In the Hindi-
Urdu belt also these variations are visible. Eastern-Indian Hindi speakers would sub-
stitute [v] with [b] and Bengalis O, if initial, and by B in the middle. Verma<Berma,
Vajpai<Bajpai, Vakil (lawyer) <Okil, Victor<Bictor, Javaid<Jobaid, etc.
[z] substituted by [j] is a generic problem all over India, e.g., zebra<jebra,
ziyada (more) <jiyada, zarūr (must) <jarūr, zanāna (ladies) <janāna, etc. [q] and [k]
are also universal, e.g., qāleen (carpet) <kaleen, qabūl (acceptance) kabūl, qabil
(able) kabil. The problem of [f] phoneme even extends to English words, i.e., faida
(profit) <phaida, feeta (lace) <pheeta, fruit<phurūt phurūt, films<philam. [Kh] and
[Gh] are also universal problems all over India, e.g., khāk (dust) <khāk, khatam
(finish) <khatam, khāmôs (silent) <khāmôs; examples with [gh, or ghein] are: ghair
(alien) <gair, ghazal (love poem) <gajal or gazal, etc.
A misperception persists that Muslims of the subcontinent who learn the Quran
as children are perfect in the Hindi phonation. It is wrong. Bengalis, Gujratis, and
other South Asians, Malaysians and Indonesians, share the same problem. It is purely
cultural and geographic. It is true also for the Hindi belt and not at all related to reli-
gious persuasion. Educated Hindus and Muslims of this belt in the 19th and 20th cen-
turies and raised with Arabic-Persian-Urdu instruction and/or acquisition from
parental speech reveal the most perfect phonation; many of their descendants speak
with correct phonation; it is part of their cultural inheritance. Punjabis cannot pro-
nounce [q] and use [k] instead. Poet Iqbal always referred to himself as Ikbāl. Hyder-
abadis of South India substitute [q] with [kh], so qeema (ground meat) <kheema,
qaum (nation) <khaum, qalam (pen) <khalam, etc. It is generic and regional for
Hindus and Muslims alike.
Those who spoke Hindi with perfection during the 19th and early 20th cen-
turies, had barely made up 10% of the city population, gradually were diluted and the
villagers who flooded in after the 1950s. Even the literate villagers were stuck with
their natural accents, irrespective of whether they had read Urdu or Hindi. Many,
including Muslims, who lived in Lucknow and Allahabad for a few generations,
maintained their “perfect village” but “imperfect Hindi-Arabic” phonation. In
essence, the Arabic-Hindi phonation has become naturalized, or Indianized, if you
will, after several centuries, and also harmonized with Austric-Munda and Dravidian
phonetic system of India and the South Pacific.
Many commentators lament this naturalization process as a cultural or civiliza-
tional deterioration, try to link the changes to Urdu’s loss of status in the school
system. Urdu’s loss of status, though clearly a politicaly anti-Muslim move, does not
have much to do with phonation as elaborated above. Hindi and Urdu speech has in
fact been through another cycle of cultural evolution in the past century to reach a
new level of cultural concurrence, homogeneity, or convergence between the rival
speech of India’s majority and the tiny urban group. This urban elite, which has
hitherto defined the so-called “refined speech” serving their interest, has lost out in a
313
way. Hindi-Urdu speech has, in fact, undergone a socio-cultural or a proletarian revo-
lution. Rural population between the years 1900 and 2000 shrank from about 90% to
about 70%, a massive shift; the change was inevitable.
Urdu/Hindi with its phonetic “problem” is a part of the Indian diaspora now.
We will revisit the issue in the chapter on global Urdu/Hindi. Phonetic issues are
really at the heart of the success of Urdu over Hindi in show business in the subcon-
tinent, especially of the Bombay film industry, as will be discussed next.
The chapter reviews Hindi’s creation by the enormous substitution of Arabic/

Persian words with examples as well as its literature; it examines high Hindi of the
early centuries changing to a street language no different than Urdu, in poetry and
prose. The chapter highlights the acceptance of Hindi by Muslims, turning it into the
third most relevant Islamic language. The chapter discusses the ongoing problem of
Arabic phonemes and their spoken delivery, which is based on literacy and regional
culture, and also notes the population shift from villages to cities as the basis for its
further exaggeration. The chapter argues that spoken language endures as nature’s
gift and that phonetic variation does not usually change the substance of the message.
CHAPTER XIV. URDU/HINDI: A SHOW BIZ POWER
14.0 INTRODUCTION
Show business on the subcontinent has been mainly driven by Urdu, ever since
its inception. Its most vibrant center, Bombay, or Bollywood, and Pakistani center,
Lahore, or Lollywood, along with the TV centers at Karachi and Delhi, together con-
stitute a major industry with a global audience. In Bombay the name of the language
has been simply changed to “Hindi” after the 1947 partition with almost no inter-
ruption in the quality. The Hindi language itself, as noted earlier, after its political
growth has returned to the same quality, called “Urdu, or Hindustani, or Urdu/Hindi.”
As a matter of fact, the films have expanded Urdu speech and comprehension
to remote villages of the subcontinent. The illiterate villagers, farmers, and laborers
now use common urban idioms spoken by actors and actresses, such as muhabbat
(love), qatil (killer), dushman (enemy), awara (vagabond), nafrat (hate), sharab
(wine), vakil (lawyer), mujrim (criminal), saza (punishment), and hundreds of other
words of Urdu speech derived from Persian and Arabic. In its global dimension, show
biz Urdu thrives among indo-Pakistani diaspora (termed desi) everywhere.
The whole army of progressive poets and writers who got involved with the
stage in the past century had called their language Urdu. With the name change to
Hindi after India’s partition, these same writers, like Sahir, Krishen Chandra, Shakeel,
etc., prudently accepted the changed nomenclature while maintaining the quality.
Some have noted and reacted to this political jugglery. Qurat-ul-aien Haider, the nov-
elist, commented:360 “In the films this hardy language kept its dominance, but it was
now called Hindi. In other words, the whole language was hijacked and its name
changed.”
360. Akhtar Javed (1995), p. 9.
315
Apparently her emotional reaction, though appropriate, and also seen among
numerous Urdu writers such as Firaq and Sahir etc., has been diluted out, by free
adoption of Hindi by Muslims.
14.1 FILM LANGUAGE – QUALITY CONTROL
Film language, call it Urdu or Hindi, has maintained its own quality control. On
accent and textual material: All actors, actresses, and singers have had to adopt the
language of the U.P./Delhi area, by learning difficult Arabic phonemes, irrespective
of their religion, and/or regional dialects, just like Hollywood or Broadway is regu-
lated by a correct English accent. It was and is a business/money-driven enterprise.
Mukesh, a Hindu singer, and Talat Mehmood, a Muslim from UP/Delhi area with
perfect Urdu, had a birth advantage over Lata Mangeshkar, a Maratha Hindu who had
to learn Urdu. Slight imperfections, for example, in Punjabi and Bengali singers have
been ignored: Bengalis had almost eliminated Arabic and Persian from their lan-
guage, and therefore had more difficulty in correct pronunciation and were generally
limited in Bombay cinema. In their anti-Muslim linguistic zeal, they had even Ben-
galized the leftover Persian/Arabic words. Some of these words, however, have
become part of their Hindu surnames, which sometimes reveal a major alteration of
roots and loss of meaning.
Urdu (meaning) Bengali altered meaning

sarkar (head, or government) shorkor make noise (Urdu)
khus navees (clear, good writer) khushnobish no meaning in Bangla
Mahal navees (palace writer) mohola nobish no meaning in Bangla
The Bengalis’ phonation problem with a/o, v/b, sh/s, z/j, etc. has largely
limited them to regional Bengali films. Prof. Chatterji, a Bengali, really did not like
the way Urdu was dominating Bombay’s films, which had refused to adopt the San-
skritized Hindi sponsored by Bengali Hindus. A quotation from Dr Chatterji’s book
reveals his personal sense of loss or failed mission of Urdu/Hindi separatism. He said:
“… A mixture of Hindi and Urdu, or Sanskrit and Persian-Arabic, neither pleases a
Hindu nor a Muslim.” He was obviously not speaking for India’s mainstream. He
further adds, “The titles for these films made in Bombay are mostly in Persian. When,
in a film from puranas or ancient Hindu history, a rishi (sage) seeks to snub a talkative
character or a mob into silence and shouts out in Persian, ‘Khamosh!’ and then
scatters into his Hindustani some Sanskrit jawbreakers intermingled with some
Arabic or Persian, or when ancient Hindu heroes and heroines vow eternal mohabbat
(love) to each other, which could endure all their zindagi (life) and even beyond, the
taste and fitness of the language makers to order cannot be commended.”361 Chat-
terji’s anger or discomfort and/or a sense of loss or lack of control over film language,
however, remained short of criticizing Tulsi das, Surdas, Sikh guru/prophet, Guru
361. S. K. Chatterji (1969), p. 257.
316
Chapter XIV. Urdu/Hindi: A Show Biz Power
Nanak, etc., who by their use of Arabic/Persian freely in Ramayan and Sikhs’ holy
book (Chapter vii), had revealed their freedom from linguistic racism of his (Chat-
terji’s) variety. Films thus remained free from the communal virus masked as Hindu,
Muslim, Bengali, or Hindus Hindi or Muslims’ Urdu, which had been proudly propa-
gated by Dr. Chatterji.
Show biz has still maintained an impeccable record of secular non-sectarian
culture and pure humanism. If there is any parochialism at all it is only nationalism.
Religious themes, if shown at all, do uncover the hypocrisy of the religious estab-
lishment and never ever take a partisan perspective. Show biz, too, has been the
single most critical medium in the promotion of integration/unity within and between
the countries of South Asia. To these governments it has been free of cost and Urdu
language has been their agent. Also very clearly, the cultural integrity of the sub-con-
tinent too has benefited from Urdu.
The Urdu’s role in show biz got rolling when commercial drama/stage
appeared in the later half of the 19th century. Stage then turned to screen in the fol-
lowing century.
14.2 BIRTH OF DRAMA/STAGE
Urdu’s service in entertainment and fun is traceable to the remotest Sum-

erian literature (vide chapter III) and locally to the contribution of Kalidas. His
famous play, “Shakuntala,” served as an early model, according to Dr. Atia Nishat of
Allahabad University who has reviewed several perspectives on Urdu drama.362 In
fact the earlier contributions of Amir Khusru, especially in music and poetry, which
prospered through medieval royalties, had become public during the later Moghul
Period in the 18th century. Tawaef culture (vide chapter viii) of Delhi provides the
first glimpse of respectability to dancing women, considered as scum and/or stigma-
tized by the rich conservative Hindus and Muslims. As noted in earlier chapters,
Tawaefs gave India even a Moghul ruler and, later on, a famous rebel leader, “Begum
Hazrat Mahal” of Lucknow during the 1857 mutiny, or War of Independence. Delhi’s
culture proliferated and moved to Lucknow; along with Urdu khari boli, alien in this
eastern or Purabi dialect area. Royal patronage of Lucknow’s nawabs thus laid the
foundation for Modern Urdu drama at Lucknow.
Shakuntala of Kalidas in Urdu version was written as early as 1716 by Nawaz
Kabsheer,363 a Royal poet in the Moghul court. It was in Brij bhasa poetic style and
sung like an opera. Dr. Gilchrist had later published its Urdu script from London; a
later version was published at Lucknow in 1875. Madari Lal had played “Mah
Munir” (“Bright Moon”) at Lucknow in front of Wajid Ali Shah Nawab (Governor)
of Oudh. It was later published as “Indra Sabha” (“Indra’s Conference) of Madari
Lal”. Lucknow, to repeat, has played a central role in the development of public
entertainment, dances, stage shows. The highly celebrated Nawab Wajid Ali Shah
362. Atia Nishat (1973), pp. 15-29.

363. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 386-389.
317
(1822-1877) had collected hundreds of artists and patronized the arts. It was famous
then as “Rahas,” or “Natak.” Hundreds of Tawaefs, dancing women (estimated 295)
have modeled as actresses, dancers and singers. Wajid Ali Shah had maintained these
activities during his Calcutta exile after 1856.
14.3 COMMERCIAL STAGE: EVOLUTION
Bengal (Calcutta and Dacca) and Bombay took the lead in commercial stage or
show biz in the 19th century mainly because of the presence of large groups of Euro-
peans and lucrative patrons/consumers. Prof. Abdul Aleem Nami, ex-chairman of
Urdu at Allahabad University, and others provide details of several plays staged at
Bombay and Bengal between 1853 and 1867. Some of these include “Raja Gopi
Chand aur Jalandar,” “Sita ki Shadi” (“Sita’s Marriage”) and “Indra Sabha,” etc. The
most important group that drove these activities in Bombay and Calcutta had come
from Urdu’s heartland, with pioneers such as Faiz Bakhsh Kanpuri, Nafees Kanpuri,
Imtiaz Ali Taj, Talib Banarasi, Ahsan Lucknowi and Agha Hashr of Banaras.
Several theatre companies, such as Bombay theatre of Jagan Nath Seth, Alfred
Theatre Company, Imperial Theatre Company, Indian Theatrical Company, Empire
Theaters, Rising Star, Victoria Company, etc., were largely run by Parsee or Zoroas-
trian businessmen, such as Cavasji, Pistonji Framji, Khurseed Baliwala, and Jehangir
Pistonji Khambata. They established and financed the show business with artists
mainly from UP.
Ahsan Lucknowi (1859-1930) was the well-educated, grandson of the poet,
Shauq. He wrote several plays for Alfred Company such as “Calta pruza” (“Smart
and Shrewd”) and “Gulnar” and translated “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Mer-
chant of Venice.” Talib Banarasi (1852-1952) of Victoria Company wrote and staged
“Lail-o-nihar” (“Night and Morning”), “Dilair dil sher” (“Brave and Lion-hearted”),
etc. Pandit Narain Prasad Betab (d. 1945), a disciple of Talib, wrote a famous play
“Qatle-Nazir” (“Nazir’s Murder”), “Faraib-e-Muhabbat” (“Love’s Fraud”), and a few
others, drawn from Hindu epics such as Krishna and Sudama and Ramayan.
Agha Hashr Kashmiri (1879-1935) of Banaras, UP, regarded as the “Shakes-
peare of India,” a poet, playwright, actor, director, and producer had dominated the
show business; none having matched him since. Agha Hashr was inspired by Ahsan
Lucknowi and published his first play, “Aftab Muhabbat” (“Sun of Love”) at Banaras
(1897) and moved to Bombay to work for Alfred Theatrical Company. His first com-
mercial play (1899) “Murid Shak” (“Devotee of Doubt”) was a hit, and success fol-
lowed. He later developed his own company, Indian Shakespeare Theatrical
Company, which toured many cities, including Lahore, Calcutta, Patna, Lucknow,
and Banaras. He wrote and performed in hundreds of plays, the most well-known
being “Aseer Hirs” (“Captive of Greed”), “Khubsoorat Bala” (“Beautiful Evil, Silver
King”), “Yahudi ki larki” (“Daughter of a Jew”), and Rustam Sohrab, and became the
first all India celebrity and a household name in urban India.364
364. Salim Akhtar (2000), pp. 394-400.
318
Agha Hashr ushered himself into silent film between 1919 and 1923 as an actor
and writer. As the theatres began to lose importance to talking films, Hashr estab-
lished his own film company, Hashr Pictures, at Lahore, and launched his first film,
Bheesm Pratigya (Bheesm’s Vow), but died before its completion. Agha Hashr was a
versatile genius who had maintained a library and used to read a lot. He had read
Hindu epics to produce the best on their themes. One of these, Sita ban bas (Sita’s
exile), he had sold to a local King or Raja in Allahabad. It was published in Hin-
dustani later on. Agha Hasr had written two famous movies, Shirin Farhad with Nisar
and Miss Kanjan as hero and heroine, and Aurat ka piayr (Women’s Love) with
Mukhtar Begum as heroine. These hit movies were produced by Pioneer Film
Company.
14.4 DRAMA ACADEMICS
Urdu drama has since moved into universities and institutes. Contributions of
Dr. Atia Nishat, and Dr. Nami, are fundamental in understanding the academics of the
Indian stage. Many drama writers have made significant contribution in Urdu’s
context. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan himself had written and acted in one to raise money
for the college. After the advent of films, Ahsan Shuja (1893-1969) wrote a few. His
Bap ka gunah (Father’s Sin) had gained fame. Dr. Abid Husain of Delhi had pub-
lished Parda-ey Ghaflat (Wall of Ignorance), which focused on the plight of Muslim
zamindar family in the new age. Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi had written a few. Prof.
Mujeeb of Delhi, a historian, had written some fine ones on reformatory themes:
Kheti (Farming) and Khana Jangi (Civil War). Imtiaz Ali Taj (1900-1970)365 wrote
several, but his Anarkali (Bud of Pomegranate), a maid’s story of Mughal court had
claimed huge popularity. Several movies have projected the theme of a love affair
between the Prince Jehangir and maid Anarkali, supposedly fiction.
Some progressive intellectuals with socialist ideology had founded the famous
Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA). Khwaja Ahmad Abbas of Bombay wrote
a famous one for IPTA, Zubaida, which played in many places. It depicts a Muslim
girl from U.P. who throws away her veil and joins social work. Jadu ki kursi (Magical
Chair) is another famous one involving Balraj Sahni, the famous film actor. Ali
Sardar Jafri too wrote a famous play, Yeh kis ka Khun hai (Whose Blood is This?) in
1943, which played in Bombay Prithvi theaters, a creation of Prithvi Raj Kapoor, a
famous film actor who had focused on reformatory themes. In Pathan, the story of a
Muslim and his Hindu friend, one finds the intensity of human values, where the
Muslim sacrifices his son for his friend’s life.
In recent years, Habib Tanvir, Dr. Mohammad Hasan, Krishen Chand, and
some others have been active with reform perspective. In reformatory mode as well
as with commercial perspective, Pakistan TV has been the leader in the subcon-
365. Atia Nishat (1973), pp. 223-274.
319
tinent.366 Indian TV too has produced some fine Urdu plays like Bunyad (Foun-
dation). The language is projected as Hindi, but it is the same film language.
14.5 DRAMA ANTHOLOGY
Commercial plays have evolved from poetic tradition, and poetry did remain a
significant part of it, a legacy passed on to Indian movies. Agha Hashr and others,
being poets themselves, had mastered the art. Simple poetry, easily understandable by
largely uneducated masses and also Europeans, was a necessity. In view of low lit-
eracy in the 19 th century was (~3%) the quality of Dilmer and Insha, so-called
Ganwari poetry was best suited. Moreover, it had to be understood in diverse places,
Lahore, Lucknow, Calcutta, Bhopal, Banaras, and Bombay. Business and/or money at
stake it had to satisfy both the Indian main street as well as Wall Street; and ignore
Bengali-Hindi or Hindi nationalism and also high literary Urdu. Playwrights like
Agha Hashr and others met the challenge and passed on the legacy to modern film
songs. Two examples follow: In Amanats’ Indra Sabha, a heroine expresses her lone-
liness during a romantic, monsoon and breezy season as follows, wishing that the
nice weather goes away as her lover is away:
“umand ghuamnd kay kari badarya
mohey na nahak satawey
Ko-ou purv-vaiey se Jaey kaho
aur mulak barsavey Javey
bin piya ghata nahein bharaey”
[O roarful and prideful black cloud,

do not tease me for nothing (please)
someone tell this easterly breeze (to) go away
to rain in other country (place) (because)
without (my) lover I cannot appreciate the beautiful weather.]
The language reveals a non-urban accent, especially for Arabic/Persian words.

For example, Kari for kali (black), nahak for nahaq (without reason), mohey for
mujhey (me) mulak for mulk (country), badarya for badal (cloud). The Persian-
Arabic words (underlined) are very few (3 out of 21), reminiscent of the poetry of the
phase of Kabir and Tulsi das. An example from Agha Hashr367 also reveals the same
style and accent the theme is the emotional loneliness. This one has 5 out of 21 (25)
underlined Persian-Arabic words, a feature of mainstream language:
“nain ko bhaey peetam
Dil mein sama-ey peetam
Tum bin merey sanvarya humri cali umarya
Jaldi kar khabarya birha sata-ey peetam.
366. Salim Akhtar (2000), p. 403.

367. Azimul Haq Junaidi (2000), p. 173.
320
Umariya for umer (age), khabarya for khabr (news) show the dialectional
feature of Eastern UP and Bihar.
Commercial theatre gradually transferred its entire army of writers, poets,
actors, and actresses to the silver screen. Films were up and running when the
members of PWM began to gravitate during 1935 and 1940s to Bombay. Prem Chand
did not like it and returned; Josh Malihabadi did not succeed and also came back. And
incidentally it is about this time Dr. Chatterji’s book came out, revealing his distaste
as quoted above.
14.6 URDU OR HINDI OF THE FILM WORLD
In partitioned India the change of name from Urdu to Hindi had virtually no
effect on the content of the films and their songs. In Pakistan, film maintained its
content as well as its Urdu name. Sixty years later, two generations of people have
learned to use the term Hindi for films from Bombay. Urdu writers and poets of
Bombay maintain their Urdu script but utilize both terms interchangeably. Urdu
poems in printed book form, or divans, are called Ghazal, ruba-iee, etc., but when
sung in a film they become popular as Hindi songs. Such instances were identified
earlier in context with several poets, e.g., Sahir. There are hundreds of such examples.
In India, Bombay definitely has emerged as a leading center of Urdu in both com-
merce and academics. Films have kept up the quality of language. About 20 % or
more of words have an Arabic-Persian mix, and the phonetics of singers have
remained almost the same, i.e., close to the Arabic original. Famous singers such as
Mukesh, Kishore, Rafi, Lata, Asha Bhosle, and Geeta Dutt did, and still do,
reproduce flawless Urdu-Arabic sounds: z not as j, sh not as s, q not as k, and gh
(ghein) not as g, etc., the only exception being singers from Punjab, likes of Rafi, and
Punjabi Urdu poets who substitute k (Koran) for q (Quran).
Films have been the single most effective medium to teach conversational and
poetic Urdu through out the subcontinent. Those few thousand words of Arabic-
Persian, considered essential have now become part of the spoken language of sub-
urban villages, blurring the difference between city and village speech, as discussed
in the earlier chapter. The spoken language, Urdu, the lingua franca since the 19th
century, had been fully dispersed by 1960s in the subcontinent. Show business,
Bombay films, Lahore films, Pakistan and Indian TV, certainly deserves the fullest
credit for this; it has maintained the cultural integrity of the subcontinent. The films
also have moved the language into West Asian and Central Asian countries; one
notable film, Awara, had been quite popular there even in the 1950s.
In Bombay films, Urdu, under its new name Hindi, seems to have made a kind
of permanent home. Even Hindi writers of the younger generation have adopted the
language. Their Hindi is the same as Urdu, not the regressed reactionary type of the
1930s-50s. The regressed variety really never had a chance, as no producer would
risk his money. Furthermore, it is impossible to beat Urdu poetry or songs dependent
on the legacy by Arabic poetry, rhymes (radeef) and double rhyme (qafia). Meter size
and rhymes, never considered as absolute in Sanskrit, Hindi, or English, remain the
321
boundaries of Urdu poetry, a unique heritage from Arabic, the most music worthy
language.
Urdu verses obviously fit into the musical system most efficiently and easily
because of its consistent meter size and phonetic (rhyme) ending. For unequal size
verse, musicians are challenged to find filler sounds for the poetic deficiency. In
addition, the enormous poetic heritage (17-19th centuries) from the classical Urdu
poetry of Mir, Dard, Nazir, Ghalib, Zauq dagh, Momin, and Akbar-Iqbal serve as an
inexhaustible treasure, covering all social ideas, issues of all humans, and promote all
possible “baher” (musical combinations) —meter size, radeef, and qafia—for the
poet or song writer and music directors.
Urdu language itself, a super hybrid with multiple words/phonemes for any
given item, perhaps the richest in the world, offers choices and advantages to a poet.
It may not be out of place to repeat a few examples here: Urdu has five words for
“water” and seven for “love,” providing many phonetic choices. The source of origin
in the following examples is given in ( ): Jal (Drav), Nir (Munda), Pani (Drav) ab
(Sumerian Persian) ma (Arabic) for water, and for love, Prem (Drav) Piyar (Drav)
Muhabbat (Arabic), ulfat (Arabic), isq (Arabic), yari (Persian), Dosti (Persian) Lagi
or lagan (munda). Many such examples are discussed in earlier chapters in detail
(chapters V, VI).
14.7 FILM TITLES AND POLITICS
Titles, or names, of films have been largely Arabic-Persian derivatives,

angering people like Chatterji, and amounts to perhaps 70% or higher. The following
are examples of some famous films with their language source, along with meanings
given in ( ): Awara-Pers. (Vagabond), Andaz-Pers. (Guess or Style), Admi-Pers./Arab.
(Man), Aurat-Pers. (Woman), Asiq-Arab. (Lover), Ah-Pers. (Sadness), Afsana-Pers.
(Fiction), Diwar-Pers. (Wall), Dagh-Arab. (Blemish), Faryad-Arab. (Request), Didar-
Pers. (Sighting), Jangli-Pers. (Savage), Safar-Arab. (Travel), Sikast-Pers. (Defeat),
Sabab-Pers. (Youth), Shaeed-Arab. (Witness or Martyr), Silsila-Arab. (Chain),
Pakeeza-Pers. (Pious), Parwarish-Pers. (Upbringing), Mugh-e-azam-Arab. (Great
Moghul), Taqdeer-Arab. (Luck).
There are thousands of other titles with single words and also compounds such
as merey (my) mehbub-Arab. (beloved), do (two) rastey-Pers (paths), Teesri (third)
qasam-Arab. (vow), etc. Thousands of non-Arabic Persian titles drawn from Dravid-
ian, Munda, Sanskrit, Tad bhava, and Tatsam sources have also been in use from the
earliest advent of theatres and film, as noted earlier. Of significant interest has been
the direction and decisions of the Indian Film Censor Board after 1947, an autono-
mous body, but created and regulated by the federal government of India. With the
change of guards in 1947, the board had switched to the new generic “Hindi” for all
Urdu film titles. They apparently intended to erase the term Urdu from the collective
psyche of new generations. They did succeed even beyond their widest dreams,
impacting even the Pakistanis’ psyche. Young Pakistanis under 50 now use the term
“Hindi Film” for Bombay films in general, having no idea about the history of Urdu/
Hindi.
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The Indian Censor Board has been creating some funny situations at times. The
way it works is not a public record and its proceedings are never published. It is clear
though that when the story’s theme is focused on Lucknow’s old culture of Nawab or
when there is a modern Muslim theme the film is granted an Urdu title. Merey
Mehbub of the 1960s was such a film. That Urdu is still Muslim seems to be a hidden
message. Paying Guest, featuring a Hindu lawyer, Dev Anand, in Lucknow, speaking
chaste Lucknow Urdu, was entitled as “Hindi.” Despite its title, the songs of Merey
Mehbub became popular as “Hindi songs,” even among Muslim kids who had known
only Hindi from schools. The censor, obviously, had been using some political guide-
lines. The political switch to the term Hindi was pursued most aggressively in the
1950s, with some classic films, Mahal, Ah, Awara, An, etc.; these were the creation of
Urdu’s best writers and had some of the Urdu’s best ghazals. All these were titled
“Hindi films.” Songs from the latter films were most popular as Hindi songs.
We will close the issues with one more interesting example here. Mughley
Azam (Great Moghul) of the 1960s had focused on Prince Jehangir’s love affair with
a maid, Anarkali, a drama discussed earlier, and is considered a classic. The film had
Akbar the father, King, and ministers speaking a highly Persianized Urdu dialogue.
The film was given a “Hindi” certificate. Many modern Urdu crusaders even cried
over this, but from the film’s historical perspective, producer Asif had chosen a
correct title. The name of this hybrid people’s language was Hindi in Akbar’s time. In
another one from the 1980s, Razia Sultan, set in 14th century Delhi, the title of Hindi
film had to be seen from a similar perspective. Film censors, though, had a clear anti-
Urdu bias after 1947. In one way or another, they intended to hijack the name Urdu
and replace it by the term Hindi, concordant with Hindu nationalism of the 19th and
20th centuries (Chapter 9-11). The term Urdu, however, is popular and respected
among the educated elite of the subcontinent, who seem to admire Lucknow and its
chaste accent. Here is again something Bombay film has propagated the concept of:
Lucknow’s chaste Urdu.
14.8 FILMS AND THE LUCKNOW URDU ACCENT
The concept of a standard Urdu dialect and its geographical identity with
Lucknow, U.P., or Delhi is the exclusive (unconscious) creation of show business,
mostly of film. Most playwrights, poets, actors, and actresses, the founders of show
business in the 19th century, had a connection (direct or indirect) with Lucknow or
Faizabad, the capital of greater Oudh, then inclusive of Allahabad and even Agra, a
very large part of UP in the early years. Delhi’s transplant (after the 18th century),
Khari boli of Mir and Sauda in urbanized Lucknow, U.P. culture had become the life-
blood of drama and stage of Wajid Ali Shah and Agha Hashr. Khari boli Urdu was
really rebottled under Lucknow’s label, making Lucknow a beneficiary of Urdu’s
fame.
Films later on dispersed this Delhi language to all corners under its new brand
names—“Sweet, super-sweet, sophisticated, delicate Lucknow’s Urdu. The lay-
person, throughout the subcontinent, associates standard Urdu khari boli dialect with
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Lucknow. Punjabees, proud of creating much of early Urdu and its dispersal, some-
times are seen as envious of this so-called Lucknow accent. History had them trapped
and cut off from laying the foundation of show business in its early critical phase. The
dialect of Agha Hashr and U.P.’s elite was propagated as standard Urdu in Punjab and
everywhere else. And Lucknow people, for good or bad, have gained the title “Ahley-
zaban,” or “people of language.” Both are really not completely true: It is Delhi’s
dialect and Lucknow’s label. The language dialect indigenous to Lucknow and the
tract southeast of Kanpur up to Western Bihar, inclusive of Allahabad and Banaras, is
not Khari boli of Delhi; it is Eastern or Purbi. In the suburbs of Lucknow, the Purabi
accent has been natural and still is.
Bombay films do feature this eastern dialect sometimes. Ganga-Jumna, a
feature film of famous actor, Dilip Kumar, is typical. Actor Amitabh Bachhan of
Allahabad is shown with this accent sometimes. Films, in essence, have brainwashed
or acculturated everybody with Khari boli Urdu. All other dialects, Brij, Purbi
(eastern), Kanauji, and Bundeli may sound strange and even uncivilized to many, or
ganwari or gaon-wali, of village (gaon means “village” in Urdu) or dehati boli (dehat
means “village” in Urdu and Persian). Films have been, thus, the best propagator of
Khari boli Urdu as the dialect of the urban elites of U.P., especially of Lucknow, an
act of history or divine providence. Poets and writers of the film industry, as a group,
have done a commendable job, however, in harmonizing and linking Khari boli with
other dialects. Film anthology, in fact, has integrated the whole subcontinent,
including the Dravidian-speaking South.
14.9 SILVER SCREEN ANTHEMS/SONGS
Songs or antation or anthems have remained a significant segment of Indo-

Pakistani film and the poetry and its composers have maintained the quality despite
the name change. Most songs follow the rhyming rules (meterize radeef-qafia) fitting
smoothly into standard ragas or tunes: Poets do, at times write a song on borrowed
western music or a copy; rules then seems to be bent i.e., one gets so called Free
poetry. Few songs sung by a singer Kishore Kumar are good examples; the following
is a meaningless one written by Rajendra Krishen.
Ina mina dika, dai damey nika
Maka naka naka ceeka peeka
Rika rola dika
Ram, pamposh rampam posh
With no links to urdu but only to music, a copy of Hollywood. Next one has
some meaning; it was on rock n roll also a copy, written by Majrooh Sultanpuri
“Lal lal gal
Jan kay hain lagu
Bhag bhag bhag
Bhag pardesi babu”
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Film songs of Urdu-Hindi seem to be popular also among Dravidian speakers

and Munda-Shanthali speakers of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. Urdu’s Munda and
Dravidian roots, as discussed in earlier chapters, (vide chapter IV) are naturally
responsible for its wider comprehension. For example in the above-cited piece from
Kishore Kumar, 10 of 14 (70%) words have Munda and Dravidian sources; three,
Persian (underlined); and one, “desi,” Sanskrit. Film songs thus represents the best of
that core glue, hypothetical “Mun-Dravi” of pre-Aryan India (vide chapter IV). The
songs not only integrate vertically all linguistic groups, but also, horizontally, those
affiliated with religious groups. The power of this film glue is best witnessed in the
Western cities. The concerts, for example, featuring Indo-Pakistan singers such as
Lata Mangeshkar, draw the largest of the crowds, with people of every faith and lin-
guistic preferences.
The history of show biz music/poetry or poetry for public entertainment has
deep roots. As a matter of fact the earliest poets, such as Amir Khusro and other Sufi
poets, had utilized various tunes, or ragas, to construct their poetry. Amir Khusro,
himself a most celebrated poet, had invented dozens of tunes and also a three-string
instrument famous for its Persian name seh (three), tar (string), or Sitar. The nexus
between music and poetry had continued even up to the beginning of the 20th century
when poets assumed a different stature, “educated middle-class,” while music moved
into the public entertainment business through “Tawaef culture” (discussed in chapter
VIII), and gained a social stigma. Some of the best poets of Urdu had a knowledge of
music as well, e.g., Mir Dard, Anjam, Siraj Arzo, Qutib Shah, and numerous others,
one of the greatest for showbiz being Wajid Ali Shah. These fundamental poets have
left an enormous treasure of fine poetry in every possible meter, radeef (rhyme), and
qafia (double rhyme), apart from the ideas or themes. Most poets in the 19th and 20th
centuries, the likes of Iqbal, Akbar, Firaq, and also current ones are mostly unedu-
cated in music. They have been utilizing much of the old baher, or tunes, with a
change in idioms and vocabulary. This fundamental is the secret of success of Urdu
lyrics. High Hindi thus, could never be a match, and it quickly moved to melt into
Urdu/Hindi of 18th-19th centuries.
The phonetics of Urdu/Hindi, based on Panini’s classification (tab II.1), of
course, is basic to understanding the poetry-music nexus, built upon seven nodes, or
Surs or vowel endings, organized by Indian music masters as sa, rey, ga, ma, pa, dha,
and ni, and its Western equivalent, do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti. Not surprisingly even these
seven too have roots in Mesopotamia. The oldest string instrument of about 2000 BC
had seven strings. Indian and Western Surs, of course, have their differences—
Western emphasis on o, and Indian on a endings (sa, ga, pa, ma). This apparently is
based on North Indian speech, which tends to favor a endings, as in Khari boli. And
even English words, e.g., “forty” and “forward,” in this tract are delivered as “farty”
and “farward.” This perhaps led Khusro to reduce the number of strings from 3 to 7,
one for sa, ga, ma, and pa, and others for rey, ni. It is thus quite natural to perceive
western music as alien, and Urdu poems composed over it are usually superficial and,
sometimes, meaningless.
In general, film lyrics pick up from all those themes/ideas/bahers (tunes), dis-
cussed in poetry sections earlier. Most are focused on romanticism, and the composi-
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tions are classed as ghazal. These are lighter and avoid the harder Sanskrit, Persian,
and Arabic words to reach the widest possible audience. Nationalism, religion,
humanism, and philosophy are all featured, focusing on reform in most compositions.
The language, again, is kept as simple as possible.
Ever since the days of theatres, poets like Agha Hashr and hundreds of others
must have created, by now, hundreds of thousands of songs. Some of the more prom-
inent ones are Sahir, Shakeel, Khumar, Ja Nisar Akhtar, Kedar Sharma, Rajindra
Krishen, Hasrat Jaipur, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Anand Buxi, Raja Mehdi Ali
Khan, Bharat Vyas, Ameet Khanna, Kaif Bhopali, Shalendra, Prem Dhawan, Gulzar,
Asad Bhopali, Ali Sardar Jafri, Indevar, Javed Akhtar, Neeraj, and Shaheryar. This
list of important ones and their other unknown assistants or disciples have written
some high-class poetry, entertaining billions through the voice of famous singers like
Sehgal, Nurjehan, Suraiya, Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar and her sister, Asha Bhosle,
Musarrat Nazir, Mohd Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Hemant Kumar, Kishore
Kumar, Mehdi Hassan, and Jagit Singh, and many others. Important musicians, who
have set these poetries to melodies, include Naushad, Shankar-Jaikishen, Khaiyyam,
Kalyanji Anandji, Laxmikant-pyarelal, Madan Mohan, Ghulam Mohammad, Anil
Biswas, and S. D. Burman. A short selection of pieces from various themes and
periods follows: Words with Persian-Arabic roots are underlined, those in Sanskrit,
with dotted lines. These reveal quality and simplicity, without compromising its
limits of meter size and rhyme, etc.
We begin with a few examples from pre-partition songs. Kundan Sehgal had
sung a simple ghazal by poet Akbar, expressing life’s philosophy and purpose. Here
is a couplet:
“dunya mein hon dunya ka talabgar nahein hon
bazaar se guzra hon kharidar nahein hon”
[I live in this world but without desiring (much),

(like) a customer browsing through, but not buying.]
or Man doesn’t take back anything at death.
Nationalistic theme had to be in support of British war efforts in those days;

one verse from the film Shaheed contains 9 of 17 well-known common Arabic-
Persian words.
“Vatan ki rah mein vatan kay nam Javan shaheed ho
Pukarti hai yeh zamein asman shaheed ho”.
In a very simple language focused on the romantic rainy season this one, from
the film Ratan, is reminiscent of Agha Hashr’s verse, cited earlier under “theatres.”
“rim jhim barsey badarwa
mast hawain a-ein
piya ghar aja, aja
Piya ghar aja”
[Drip drip, cloud is raining
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beautiful breeze flowing

dear come home come home
dear come home]
The next one was sung by Nurjehan in the film Zeenat (Décor), a sad film with
a husband dying by accident at the time of his marriage ceremony.
“andhiyan gham ki yon calein bagh ujar kay rah gaya
samjhey they asra jisey voh bhi bichar kay reh gaya”
[A tragedy like a windstorm struck and destroyed (my) garden,

and I got separated from someone who was going to be my life partner].
This song was a hit during the middle of partition tragedies in 1947 and used to
make millions cry. Note the words (15%) are Persian.
After partition, in the 1950s and 1960s, Bombay poets had composed some of
their best songs. Focusing on love and romance, some of these ghazal types have now
graduated as classics. Two verses of Majruh Sultanpuri, composed for the classical
movie, Andaz (Style) are:
1.“utha-ey Ja un kay sitam aur Ji-ey ja
yunhi muskura-ey ja ansu pi-ey ja
2. yehi hai muhabbat ka dastur i dil

jo gham dey usey tu duwa-ain diy-ey ja
[Keep on facing her oppressions, keep smiling and swallow the tears,
this is the way of love (keep) praying for the one, who gives hurts and pains]
A fine simple ghazal piece with some 7 (25%) Perso-Arabic and four (15%)
Sanskrit words. A couplet written by Kedar Sharma from a song in the film Faryad
(Request or Appeal) contains only two words each of Persian-Arabic and Sanskrit,
but expresses powerful ideas. It is also, technically, a perfect shair:
“hal-e dil unko sunana tha sunaaaya na gaya
jo zaban par mujhey lana tha voh laya na gaya”
[I wanted to tell (her/him) my heart secrets; but

what I wished to say, I failed to deliver.]
Another from the same era, by Shakeel Badayuni, is also a romantic one from
Chaud-vein ka Chand (Full Moon); it contains fifty percent well-known and simple
Persian-Arabic words:
“badleye badley meray sarkar nazar ataey hain
ghar ki barbadi kay asar nazar atey hain.”
[Your looking so indifferent, why my dear? (these) signs (I) hope don’t destroy
our home].
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In a shorter meter size, Asad Bhopali composed the following piece for the
film, Guest House, a satire on Bombay life:
“jis ka juta usi ki sar
dil hai chota bara saher
array vah rey vah teri bomba-iee
khaya dhoka ga-ey jidhar
dekho qismat pherey kidhar
arey vah rey--------
[Your own shoe (may hit) your head\

people’s hearts are narrow (here) but city (is) big
oh what a (city) your Bombay
cheated you are wherever you go
let us remain hopeful for the good fortune to come
oh what ----------]
Sahir’s leftist satire on poverty and homelessness is expressed as a parody on

Iqbal’s anthem, Sare jehan accha. A piece from the film, Phir subah hogi (Morning
will dawn again).
“cheen, va ARAB hamara hindostan hamara
rehney ko ghar nahein hai, sara jehan hamara
kholi bhi chin ga-iee hai
Benchain bhi chin ga-iee hain
Footpath bombai-iee kay hain ashyan hamara”.
[China and Arab are ours and so is our India; we claim the whole world, but there
is no place to live.
(the) rooms are snatched away, and benches are croweded too
Bombay’s footpath is now really our home.]
The following reveals a kind of self-praise nationalism by the poet, Shalendra,

writing for the film, Jis desh mein ganga behti hai (The Country in Which Ganges
Flows):
“hoton pe saca-iee rahti hai
Jahan dil mein safa-iee rahti hai
Hum us desh kay basi hain
Hum us desh kay basi hain
Jis desh mein ganga behti hai”
[Truth is on the lips

where the heart is clean
we are citizens of such a country
we are citizens of such a country
A country where the Ganges flows.]
— Very simple language understood straightaway.
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From the 1970s-1990s romanticism continued as a commercial necessity. In

one popular film, Kabhi Kabhi (Once in a while, or Sometimes), Sahir maintained his
simple language:
“kabhi kabhi merey dil mein khayal ata hai
key jai-sey tujh ko banaya gya hai merey lee-ey
tu ab se pehley sitaron mein bas rahi thi kahein
tujhey zamein pe bulaya gya hai merey lee-ey”
[Sometime I get this idea in the heart

as if you are made (only) for me
(and) in earlier time, you dwelled among stars
(and) brought down to earth (just) for me.]
Poets and writers of Pakistan have helped their own industry, a clone of
Bombay’s, after 1947. They have maintained a similar quality for a wider and similar
type of audience. The following song, sung by Mala, of Faisalabad, is one sample
from the film, Armaan:
“akelay na jana hamain chorkar tum
tumharey bina ham bhala kya jiyein gay
[Do not go away alone leaving me behind

without you, I may not even survive]
This one is free of Persian-Arabic, something unexpected from Pakistani Urdu,

and has only one Sanskrit word.
Another one from Madam Nur Jehan, from the film, Sasural, is equally simple
“Ja apni hasraton par ansu baha kay so ja
kahein sun na ley zamana ai dil khamos hoja”
[Cry on your unfulfilled desire and go to sleep;

and better be quiet for people may hear it.]
Mr. Mehdi Hassan sang the following one by the poet Qateel Safaiee for the
film Azmat.
“Zindagi mein to sabhi piyar kiya kartey hain
mein to mar kar bhi meri jan tujhey cahonga”
[In life, everyone indulges in love

I will love you even after (my ) death.]
Commercialism forces a simple language on the poets. This one has only 2
(10%) Persian-Arabic words; which basically varies between 0-20% across the board
in Bombay or Lahore.
Another piece sung by Nur Jehan is written by Tanvir Naqvi, from the film,
Intezar.
“ghazab kiya terey vadey pe etbar kiya
329
tamam rat qayamat ka intezar kiya”
[It was wrong to have believed your promise

for entire night, I waited with restlessness (like a doomsday).]
This one has almost 50% Persian-Arabic words but is still widely comprehended.
14.10 FILM SONGS, HUMANISM/DEVOTIONALISM
Religious-devotional themes, humanism, Sufism, and national unity themes

have been also the favorite of songwriters, perhaps quite effective in social inte-
gration. A few examples follow. This one, a prayer theme, was written by Sahir and
sung by Rafi in the film, Naya Rasta (New Way) :
“eishwar allah terey nam sab ko sammati dey bhagwan
sara jag teri santan sab ko sammati bhagwan”
[Eishwar (SKT name for “God”) and Allah (Arabic for God) both are your name
God; please grant greatness to all everyone, all your creature
whole world’s your creature; grant greatness to all.]
The following on philosophy of life became extremely popular during the

1950’s. It’s an easy language that touched the hearts of even the illiterate masses
(about 80% in the subcontinent). It was sung by Rafi in the film, Mela (Fete, or Car-
nival) and composed by the poet, Shakeel.
“yeh zindagi kay meley dunya mein kam nah on gey
afsos ham nah on gey
aik din parey ka jana kya waqt kys zamana
koi na sath dega sab kuch yahein raheyga
Ja-ey gey ham akeley
Yeh zindagi ke meley dunya mein kam nah hon gey”
[This live carnival will remain lively alas! (I ) will be gone (died), on time and a
day unknown;
none will accompany and everything will stay here
I will go alone
This live carnival …]
The following is a devotional prayer. Inspiring confession in the temple, it was

sung by Rafi in the film Amar (Immortal) and composed by poet Shakeel.
“insaf ka mandir hai bhagwan ka ghar hai
kaihna hai jo kaihdey tujhey kis bat ka dar hai”
[This is temple of justice and house of God

say whatever you want, confess and don’t be afraid]
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Another example of a prayer song with protest, sung by Kishore Kumar,

follows; it was written by Anand Bakshi:
1.“ai khuda har faisla tera mujhey manzur hai
samney terey tera banda bahut majbur hai
2. har duwa meri kisi diwar say takra ga-iee
bay asar ho kar meri faryad vapas a ga-iee”
[1. Oh, god I will accept all your decision, I pray

in front of you; your servant is very much distressed
2. Each of my prayer has hit against some stone wall,
these prayers of mine have remained unanswered]
Progressive themes and Hindu-Muslim unity themes played out a lot. The fol-
lowing one, by Sahir, is based on the story of an abandoned child brought up by a
foster father; it was sung by Rafi in Dhul ka phul (Flower of Dust).
“tu hindu banega na musalman baney ga
insane ki aulad hai. Insane baney ga
kuch accha hai abhi tak kuch tera kue nam nahein hai
tujh ko kisi mazhab sey sey koi kam nahein hai
Tu badley huwey waqt ki pehcan baneyga
Insane ki aulad hai insane baney ga.”
[You will become neither a Hindu nor a Muslim

child of a human, you will be just a human
It is good, you have no name as yet and
You will represent, the new changed world.]
14.11 FILM’S VISION: ‘HINDUSTANIAT’ AND URDU
Much of the credit for the profound, persistent, and successful role of showbiz
Urdu belongs to the army of poets and writers, many of them Muslim, as suggested
by their names, who decided to stay put in Bombay (India) despite the adverse provo-
cation and communally charged atmosphere of the 1940s and 1950s associated with
partition woes. They really saved the industry from a complete collapse and Indian
Urdu secular culture from communal ablation. People like Sahir, Khwaja Ahmad
Abbas, Ali Sardar Jaffri, Krishen Chand, Rajindra Singh Bedi, Majruh, Shakil, Anand
Buxi, and hundreds of other film writers have also rebutted, most effectively, the
label of Muslim language or foreign language that was stuck on Urdu earlier. Their
work ethic was certainly no less missionary; they had kept the focus on maintaining
the quality of Urdu without paying attention to its new brand-name label, “Hindi.”
Their poems in mushairas are traded as Urdu and, through the film anthologies of
Bombay, as Hindi, two names for this ONE old language.
Show biz certainly had apparently defeated the vision mission of religious
nationalists such as the linguist, Chatterji. The success of film again reveals a basic
fact about the languages—they are natural human utilities vigorous enough to shake
331
off any artificial, religious, and political manipulations. Show biz industry and its lan-
guage and, for that matter, languages have no religion, the position of this author and
of a scholar, Gopi Chand Narang. 368 The two names Urdu and Hindi and their
political dichotomy in the subcontinent has been a visible phenomenon since the end
of WWII. But a large diaspora of some 20 million Indo-Pakistani people, or “Desi”
(pl. “desees”) who have disseminated Urdu/ Hindi and their film culture everywhere,
still sport a unified culture, a topic dealt with in the next chapter.
Urdu/Hindi cinema is now indulged in some diplomacy in South Asia. In the
new climate of growing friendship between India and Pakistan, show biz people, nat-
urally, are at the forefront. The famous writer poet, Javed Akhtar, was part of a recent
friendship entourage of Prime Minister Bajpai’s visit to Pakistan two years ago. New
Bollywood movies are now focusing on the friendship themes. A recent one by Javed
Akhtar, VeerZara, (2004-2005), starring Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta, and filmed
in Lahore and Indian Punjab is extremely popular. Akhtar has shown very explicitly
that a common culture and language binds the South Asians, and that culture and lan-
guage has no religion of its own, nor it is a hybrid/composite of Hindu or Muslim cul-
tures. It is the same old pre-partition (1947) Indian culture evolved cumulatively over
some thousands of years with deep roots in Mesopotamia.
The chapter documents show biz as the most effective mode of disseminating
and teaching the Urdu language to the masses of the subcontinent, transporting a
whole urban culture to remote villages. The show biz of Bombay, by remaining
immune and insulated from high Hindi after partition, maintained a people-friendly
quality, without discarding Persian-Arabic words. The chapter shows Urdu films
maintaining the cultural integrity and unity of the subcontinent and its people every-
where. It also documents the end of Urdu in public entertainment, and of a language
in the service of man, a major concept of the book.
368. Narang in Kamil Quraishi (2002), p. 129.
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CHAPTER XV. URDU/HINDI OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD
15.0 INTRODUCTION
As Urdu/Hindi expands globally and most significantly in the Middle East, one
can view this phenomenon as the reverse migration of a synthetic finished product of
India whose basic ingredients had come from the Middle East in the remotest
antiquity - a daughter returning home; besides and beyond the Middle East, in UK,
USA-Canada, Australia, South Africa etc., Urdu/Hindi is the link among all Desis, a
term (sing.-desi) meaning indigenous but commonly used for South Asian diaspora.
The phenomenon confirms this book’s theme that language and/or culture is “a free
secular beast” uncontrollable by any religious/racist/political ideology or estab-
lishment. A review of the status of the twins in the diasporas is relevant in view of
burgeoning population of Desis in distant countries, UK/Europe, USA/Canada and
also the Middle East, where in some countries, Urdu has overtaken the local Arabic
as the single most common language.
15.1 UNITED KINGDOM/EUROPE
European involvement in India, in fact, had initiated the centers of Urdu all
over Europe in the 18th - 19th centuries, especially in France and UK. In the UK now,
Urdu/Hindi is the lingua franca to about two million Desis, according to Mr. Inamul
Haq Javaid, himself an authority on the Urdu diaspora.369
In the UK, Urdu, under its old name, Hindustani, had an early start since EIC
days. Dr. Gilchrist of F.W.C had founded a school in 1818 at Leicester Square. He
later shifted to Haileybury College to teach Urdu to EIC recruits and civil servants. A
preparatory grammar school started teaching Urdu to British children at Gloucester
(1841), followed by University College, London (1855), and by 1859, Oxford, Cam-
369. Inamul Haq Javaid (1996), pp. 229-283.
333
bridge, and Edinburgh Universities had joined in; but the most significant develop-
ments had to wait for the wave of Desi immigrants after the war. In 1963 the School
of Oriental and African Studies made a serious move by founding a separate Urdu
Department under Prof. Ralph Russell, who developed Urdu syllabus testing/exami-
nation service for the public school system. In 1985, as many as 1200 children,
including local British, had taken ‘O’ level examinations, a milestone. London,
Bradford, South Hall, Birmingham, Liverpool, etc. have now emerged as major Urdu
Centers. In Bradford alone, a few years ago, about 7,000 youths, including local
English children had opted for Urdu in schools which had some 30 teachers. The UK
has dozens of literary societies, as many as at least 20 listed by Dr. Javaid. Some of
the important ones are All British Anjuma Taraqqi-e Urdu, Iqbal Academy, Urdu
Majlis, etc. They organize international conferences, seminars, and mushairas year
round.
In 1995, Iqbal Academy conducted an international conference on Iqbal
attended by Dr. Javed Iqbal of Lahore, Dr. Jagannath Azad of Delhi, and many
others. Hundreds of books, original as well as translations, come out from
England. Dr. Khaled Hasan Quadri (now retired) has translated Hali’s Hayat-e-Javed
in English. Among Urdu libraries, the one at Bradford seems to have the largest col-
lection, 18,000. Urdu journalism has made tremendous progress since the 1960s. In
one estimate as many as seventy periodicals, weeklies, and monthlies influence the
cultural life. And among several daily newspapers Jang is significant and consistent.
Two Centers in the UK, London and Bradford, are now counted among the leading
centers of Urdu, such as Lahore, Karachi, Delhi, Bombay, and Hyderabad.
Germany, too, has carved a little niche in the Urdu world; it is rooted in
Germans’ feverish interest in linguistics and ill-fated Aryanism and SKT during the
19th century. Dr. Aloy Sprenger, an ex-principal of Delhi College had compiled the
lists on “Oudh Manuscript” and brought about 2000 manuscripts including 96 in
Urdu to Germany, which now does have a modest immigrant community. Sir Iqbal
obtained his Ph.D. from Munich, and others like Dr. Zakir Hussain Khan, ex-Pres-
ident of India, his brothers, and Dr. Azimuddin Ahmad had participated in the initial
stages of Urdu development. Urdu studies are not well organized here. Iqbal and
Ghalib are well-known, and their work has been translated by Anne-Marie Schimmel,
the famous Harvard professor, who passed away recently.
France entered within Urdu’s periscope in the 19th century through the famous
Orientalist Garcin de Tassy, who had published Wali’s Divan in 1833 and established
an Urdu chair at Paris. Currently Urdu is taught at the Institute of Oriental Studies by
Alan Desoulieres. France lacks an Urdu-speaking immigrant group, and the language
is just a part of academic and diplomatic niceties. In other countries like Holland,
Norway, and Sweden, there is a cultural presence. Urdu is seen in action via trans-
lation of books, a university-level academic presence, mushairas, etc. Russsians made
a beginning in Urdu learning right after the Communist Revolution, as several
members of the PWM, like Sajjad Zahir, Faiz, and others, were either Communists
and/or Socialists. Urdu’s teaching was included as part of “Orientology” and started
by Ap-Barannikov, a SKT scholar. Urdu had figured big through massive translation
of Russian books and journals meant for propagation of communist ideology. Ghalib
334
Chapter XV. Urdu/Hindi of America and the World
and Iqbal also had figured here for special work. Makhdum Mohiuddin, the Urdu
poet from Hyderabad and a Communist, also came under study, his works translated
by Alexei Sukhochov. Also the work of many other poets and writers, including Mir
Amman, was also translated. The work of several progressive poets like Krishan
Chandra Bedi, Quratul Ain Hyder, Minto, Prem Chand, Ismat Chughtai, Faiz, Firaq,
Majrouh etc. were also made available to Russian readers.
Hindi too has a big presence in the UK in the written format. As a spoken lan-
guage, together with its twin, it serves as the lingua franca of one to two million
Desis. Its identification with Hinduism and India in script format remains strong,
especially among the Hindu population. In the UK school system, Hindi too is well
recognized on the syllabus; but concrete figures on enrolment are not available. BBC
Radio and TV tend to create separate programs in Hindi, copying the official Gov-
ernment of India line. Hindi print media is rather weak because of significant compe-
tition from powerful Gujrati, Gurmukhi, and Bengali, newspapers, and magazines.
Russia and Germany too have parallel Hindi system, a political balancing act. Russia,
because of political intimacy with India, had a much larger focus on Hindi than on
Urdu. Massive translation efforts of Russian sciences and party material had been a
most visible phenomenon in 1950s-70s, similar to that of Urdu as noted above.
15.2 USA AND CANADA
Urdu’s involvement in the new world began with small immigrant Desi Punjabi
(Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus) group in Canada, a Commonwealth country, in early
19th century. An extension of this group in the San Francisco Bay area had become a
vocal supporter of mutiny (1857), bringing out their first American newspaper,
Ghadar, in Urdu, the second official language of the British Empire.
In Canada, after the 1950s, immigration increased, particularly in the last 30
years or so. After the early experiment with a few Urdu journals like Saba, Mulaqāt
and Fikr-o-Nazar, the Pakistani community started Jang from Toronto. In the 1980s a
few parochial papers like Urdu International and, later, Urdu Canada and Al Hilal, a
bi-weekly, made appearances with some success. Some local poets and writers made
real progress. As many as two dozen books on prose and poetry were published.370
Prof. Faruq Hasan’s Collection of New and Old Poems, Naseem Syed’s Adhi Gawahi
(Half Witness), Iftikhar Haider’s Soz Azal (Beginning of Grief), Dr. Khalid Suhail’s
Saughat (Gift) and Cingāryān (Fire Spark), and Moeen Ashraf’s Tirchey Raastay
(Crooked Paths) are some important ones.
Among several hundreds of thousands of immigrants, Muslims as a group have
chosen Urdu as the language of their cultural expression. A few major universities
like Montreal’s McGill, British Columbia, and Toronto have provisions for Urdu edu-
cation. McGill had really taken the lead when a newly acquired faculty member, Dr.
Hasan Jahangir Hamdani from Oxford, authored and/or co-authored several books in
the early sixties. One of these, a three-volume Course in Urdu, a kind of textbook, has
370. Syed Faizi in Inamul Haq Javaid (1996), pp. 229-283.
335
since been popular in Europe and America. Besides Hamdani, formerly of the Punjab
University, Pakistan, and now a professor at Berkeley, California, several others in
Canada, such as Prof. Edmonds, Kenneth Bryant, and Aziz Ahmad, have been
leading supporters of Urdu instruction. Students seeking Urdu education now run into
several thousands. Several cultural groups coordinate manifold activities, especially
Urdu seminars and mushairas. A few important ones include Canada’s Urdu Society,
initiated by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The Writers Forum at Urdu Society has organized
several international conferences. Urdu’s twin, Hindi, suffers from similar handicaps
as was noted above. Loyalty to Hindi among Canadian Hindus is only lukewarm and
fragmented along ethnic/script lines. Hindi is taught as a subject in some schools and
well recognized by the above universities.
15.2.1 URDU/HINDI – USA
The United States of America seems to be emerging as a possible rival to

London as a visible center of Urdu and Hindi. Closely connected to the surge in Desi
immigration since the 1960s, Urdu, more than Hindi, has made a significant
advancement in the US. Cities like Chicago, New York, Atlanta and some others have
a visible presence of Urdu/Hindi speakers.
The US along with Canada has also become an arena of the love/hate rela-
tionship between various religious/ethnic/linguistic groups from the sub-continent.
Younger American-born Muslim and Hindu Desis, now in their thirties and forties
and described by the acronym ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) seem to be
much more integrated, than their immigrant parents paraphrased, as American bought
(by green cards) contentious Desis or senior ABCDs. Among the younger ABCDs,
the conceit and conviction of their seniors on myths such as SKT/DNS/Aryanism,
India as the oldest culture, holiness of the Arabic language/script and/or political con-
victions, i.e., 1000-year Muslim phase viewed as slavery or glory, do not have much
of an impact. Furthermore, most of them are like American non-conformist youths,
lukewarm, skeptical, suspicious, or even scornful, of religious myths or dogmas,
including the origin of languages by revelation. Western education, focused on evo-
lution and not revelation, has impacted this generation, which has absorbed the
modern concepts, including Mesopotamia as the cradle, the common origin of scripts,
and the antiquity of Dravidians as compared to Aryan/SKT, in many ways especially
through college syllabus. In fact a social crisis or the generation gap is impacting the
family relationship between the seniors and juniors. And the not-so-uncommon
trigger, Hindu/Muslim marriages, a big stigma for seniors, is also blunting the reli-
gious divide and weakening the dogmas. As a matter of fact several of these younger
Hindu/Muslim ABCDs in this author’s extended family, including Ivy Leaguers, sci-
entists, physicians, and other professionals, have made very encouraging and positive
comments on several chapters of this book.
These new ABCDS, a polyglottic monoscriptal group which uses mainly
Roman script for Urdu/Hindi and others, may end up like the other desi diaspora, the
Caribbean Indian community in New York and elsewhere. This group, BBCD
336
(acronym for British Brought Caribbean Desis), is the most integrated group, they
marry freely among themselves (Hindus and Muslims), keep their religion in the per-
sonal realm, enjoy and sing Bombay film songs, recite Arabic and SKT prayers and
Urdu poems praising the prophet, without understanding the language including the
meaning of their own Desi names. A Loss of linguistic comprehension is likely to
occur also among the new desi diaspora: As of now these young ABCDs have cer-
tainly influenced and mellowed many seniors known to this author. In spite of the
powerful presence of Hindutva and Islamic nationalists in USA, there is a significant,
visible cooperation between Hindus and Muslims of India and Pakistan. And the
spoken language, a most powerful magnet, is the main drive. This author is a witness
of numerous Hindu/Muslim gatherings, where various linguistic groups of Punjabis
and Gujratis have regrouped to start conversing in their mother tongues, Urdu/Hindi,
of course, being understood by all. They crowd together in numerous cultural pro-
grams, concerts by Indo-Pakistani artists, Urdu mushairas, and also share religious
holidays and festivals.
The Urdu/Hindi language, certainly has a great future in the multi cultural USA
but is not likely to become Chinese of Chinatown, USA, perhaps because of the two-
script problem; but who knows.
15.2.2 LANGUAGE CENTERS/AUTHORS
In the history of evolution of Urdu/Hindi in USA, the University of Chicago

has played a pivotal role. Its Department of South Asian Studies had established lan-
guage courses in Tamil, SKT, Hindi, and Urdu, leading to M.A and Ph.D. degrees.
Mr. Alkabir Quraishi, Prof. Norman Zide, and Choudhary Mohammad Naim had put
together efforts in 1960-61 to produce Urdu books. Mr. Choudhary finally brought
out 1) Introductory Urdu and 2) Reading in Urdu Prose and Poetry. The University of
Chicago, meanwhile, has produced at least four critically important Ph.D.’s: 1) Prof.
Carlo Coppola of Oakland University, 2) Stevens Poulos, now at Berkeley, had
focused on Hindi and Urdu writers, 3) Brian Silver, formerly of Harvard and later at
the Voice of America, had focused on Ghalib, and 4) Francis Pritchett, now at
Columbia University, has written on Urdu-Hindi stories and translated some other
material, including Azād’s Āb-e-Hayat.
Dr. Naim and Dr. Coppola have been fairly active in bringing out some famous
journals such as Annuals of Urdu Studies and the Journal of South Asian Literature.
The City of Chicago perhaps has more cultural programs and mushairas per unit of
population than any other city in the US. Amir Khusro Society, Iqbal Society, and the
Aligarh Alumni Group sponsor many events, including mushairas.371 A few local
poets have even excelled and published their works. They include Riazuddin Utsh,
Nasima Kulsum Nasim, Ziauddin Burney, Iftikhar Nasim, and some others. Their
work has appeared in Pakistani as well as in local journals and magazines. New
371. Sirdar Muhammed Tahir and Choudhary Mohammed Naim in Inamul Haq Javaid,
pp. 439-453.
337
York’s tri-state area, comprising of New York City’s five boroughs and the adjoining
areas of New Jersey and Connecticut, has also emerged as a leading center. Its Desi
population (estimated at 2 million) represents all faiths, colors and regions of the sub-
continent. Urdu has attracted everybody, especially at popular mushairas. Dr. Francis
Pritchett, the Chairperson of Columbia University, not only runs Urdu and Hindi
courses but also actively participates in local mushairas. Urdu’s strength in the New
York area is driven by the cultural needs of its Desi community, especially the
Muslims.
As compared to the vigor of Urdu, Hindi continues to face a major problem in
the USA as well. Although Hindi is regarded both as quasi-religious as well as India’s
new official language, the linguistic effort of the diaspora is fractured along regional
script/language lines, a natural phenomenon. All the religious literature in SKT,
including Tulsi-Das Ramayan, is available in all scripts. The status of Hindi’s DNS,
as divine, is challenged by other scripts. In academia several University Centers,
mentioned above, have created some books in DNS for college-level courses. But for
higher studies, except in SKT, one doesn’t find too much action for Hindi. Most
research and graduate level work in USA has been in Dravidian.
For primary level, instruction of Hindi for those with English as a main lan-
guage the effort has been scanty. This author remembers some effort at the Indian
Consulate in New York in the 1970s, but it wasn’t a steady or sustainable one. These
efforts, always lukewarm at best, even in the case of Urdu, are now concentrated in
temples and mosques or religious cultural centers/societies. A typical example is the
Hindu Temple in Birmingham, Alabama, where Dr Pratibha Khare initiated Hindi
classes in 1980 and recently pioneered two Hindi textbooks.372 Part one is The Hindi
Primer, the recent edition of which focuses on the phonetic alphabets in DNS along
with simple grammar. The other, Learn Hindi, is a full-length instructional textbook
with grammar. Dr. Khare who hails from Lucknow, India, has worked as a teacher in
New York before moving to Alabama with her husband, Dr. Santosh Khare, M.D., a
retired professor of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama. Her books are an
excellent resource in the US for teachers of Hindi. An error in her book that most
writers commonly make is the misconception about Hindi’s history. The position in
her introduction that “Hindi came from Khari boli, which came from Brij Bhasha,
which originated in SKT, apparently is based on a lack of awareness of SKT’s origin
itself, as clarified in Chapter III-V. Like many others, she confuses Brij and Khari boli
as separate languages rather than accented styles of the same ancient PKT which is
older than SKT.
Dr. Khare’s effort is commendable; she has presented Hindi’s phonetics in a
most simplified form, eliminating the complicated phonemes of Arabic/Persian origin
(Chapter II). Her diverse audience includes Bengali, Gujrati, and South Indians who
are really not tuned in to differentiating between [z] and [j], [f] and [ph]. Students at
least learn to say “jaroori,” if not “zaroori” (necessary), “phakir” not “faqeer”
(beggar), Teacher’s main focus really is DNS, the raison d’être of Hindi, and unless
372. Pratibha Khare (2004).
338
one is driven by a real religious zeal, it is a hard sell among Hindus, whose script may
be different. Thus, in the US, written Hindi does not have strong appeal, since it lacks
utilitarian value. This is the main reason why one does not see Hindi newspaper even
in a large city like New York.
15.2.3 URDU/HINDI JOURNALISM
Urdu papers, especially weeklies, usually available free from most Desi stores
are a visible part of Desi culture. Some of these—Urdu Times, Pakistan Times, Awām,
and Asian News—have been consistent, among some 30 in North America.
According to its owner, Mr. Khalilur Rahman of New York, Urdu Times is published
from as many as fourteen centers. Hindi, because of competition from other scripts,
suffers a major handicap in journalism. Two great examples are Gujrati and Punjabi
in Gurmukhi, which have vigorous circulation locally. Hindi speakers from UP,
Punjab, and Bihar though significant in numbers are not aggressive about Hindi; it
seems that DNS may not have a bright future, at least in comparison to Urdu. On TV
and radio, (without a role for script), both languages or one, under two names, have
been quite popular through local as well as international programming.
15.2.4 POETRY AND MUSHAIRA CULTURE AND SINGERS’ CONCERT
Besides the Bombay films, mushairas represent the best cultural form of Hindi
and Urdu integration, since no script is involved. Although sometimes the Hindi word
Kavi Sammilan is also used, the term mushaira is now included in the Hindi dictio-
naries as a late Mughal legacy (Chapter XII). Mushairas have proliferated worldwide
among the Desi diaspora and have become even more popular because of the sim-
plified language, not dissimilar from the Bombay film (Chapter XIV), language
which truly represents the Desi secular culture in the USA. This author has attended
some mushairas in a purely Hindi setting, i.e., Diwali functions, etc.
American mushairas evolved in New York with the efforts of Mr. Mamun
Aiman in the late 1960s. Numerous bazms or societies, and associations in major
cities of Canada and USA, especially Chicago, New York, and Washington, organize
mushairas on a year-round basis. A few of the important ones are international Urdu
Markaz (Center of California), SANGAM (Literary Conference of New York),
Halqa-e-Fun-o-Adab (Literary Circle of New York) and the Aligarh University
Alumni Association (AAA) in several states, now reorganized as a federation and
currently led by Mr. Muzaffar Habib of New York. For the Aligarh University
alumni, mushairas seem to be a major compulsion and/or a vehicle for psychological
reminiscence. They are unbeatable in terms of quality, consistency in tradition, broad
participation by Desis of all faiths, and their selection of poets from the whole sub-
continent and North America.
AAA originally began in 1972 in Brooklyn at the residence of a couple, both
formerly of the English Department at Aligarh University and later professors of
English at Brooklyn College, Mr. Asadur Rahman and the late Dr. Shaista Rahman.
339
The charter or the core group had then comprised Mr. Jamil Ahmed of the Indian
Consulate, Dr. Ahmed Mutee Siddiqui, a surgeon, his wife, Rabia Siddiqui, and his
engineer brother, Razi Siddiqui, another engineer, Masud Gilani and his wife, Alvira
Gilani, Ms. Mariam Begum, this author, and his wife, Dr. Farida Khan, an internist.
The mushairas, which usually coincide with Sir Syed’s or Founder’s Day celebration,
have hosted some very popular poets, such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Faraz, Ali
Sardar Jafri, Khumar, Shaheryar, Bashir Badar, and others.
AAA mushairas have their own distinctive culture, usually preceded by a
dinner and ending with the University’s famous anthem written by the poet Majaz
(d.1955), an alumnus. The anthem, set in music, starts with the following couplet and
ends with a thunderous applause everywhere, including the campus celebrations in
India:
“yeh mera chaman, yeh mera chaman
mein apney chaman ka bulbul hun”
[It is my garden, it is my garden

nightingale, I am of my garden.]
The main mushaira of New York is usually replicated by other US Centers in

Chicago, California, etc. In New York Mr. Muzaffar Habib, Federation Chair, Mr.
Riaz Alvi, Dr. Masood Haider, Mrs. Anis Khan and Ms. Avinash Sawhney, constitute
the core team of AAA.
Led by Drs. Khalid Ahmed and Shahin Iqbal, the International Urdu Center of
Santa Monica, California, is another active group which organizes superior-quality
mushairas with international participation. Their annual journal, “Mushaira,” pub-
lishes the recited works of participants as well as selected poetry from Urdu literature.
15.2.5 AMERICAN POETS OF URDU AND HINDI
Urdu poetry and poets have recorded a tremendous surge since the 1960s. This
author can easily count some fifty to sixty names in the New York tri-state area alone.
The total in North America would be around 500. These poets, who in essence are an
extension of the sub-continental scene, are virtually all senior ABCDs. Junior
ABCDs have yet to produce a single Urdu or Hindi poet. For American Urdu poets,
like most of their Indo-Pakistani counterparts, poetry is just a hobby. Some excellent
poetry on contemporary themes (Chapters XII and XIII) are written by doctors, engi-
neers, scientists, professors and others. Among the notable Urdu poets are Mamun
Aiman, Hanif Akhgar, Humeira Rahman, Taqi Abidi, Hussain Imam, Dr. Salman
Akhtar, Rashida Ayan, Muzaffar Shikoh, and Arif Irfan. Hindi poets, although not
numerous, include Adil Mansuri, Bahubal Kumar, and Mr. Sahni.
The quality of their work does not seem to be much different from the contem-
porary poetry of the sub-continent; Hindi poetry also is similar in style as discussed in
Chapter XIII. A short review of the works of a few poets reveals the richness of
American Urdu/Hindi.
340
Mr. Mamun Aiman, (born 1941), had organized the first Urdu mushaira in New
York in August 1964. Born in Allahabad and raised in Lahore, the former Fulbright
scholar at Columbia University is a notable poet and has been a visible personality in
the field of education and literature. Besides ghazals, his poetry, in simple Urdu, is
focused mostly on humanistic and progressive themes. His latest specialty, by his
own description, is the Ruba’i style, as expressed below:
“aehsaas ke evān se nikalna hoga
har vahm se imkān se nikalna hoga
her sāns batata hai keh ek din hum ko
taqdeer ke zinzan se nikalna hoga”
[One has to get out of emotion

one has to get out of doubts
every breath says that one day
one has to get out of the concept of pre-destination]
Another leading US poet, Ms. Humeira Rahman, daughter of a former pro-

fessor of English in Pakistan, is settled in New York, after serving Radio Pakistan and
BBC London. A well-known figure in the literary circle, Ms. Rahman has published
her two collections, Indemal and Intesab, which reveal humanism and psychology as
her major themes. The following is an excerpt from her recitation at the Aligarh
mushaira held in October 2004:
“voh lamha jab merey bachey ne maan pukara mujhey
mein ek shaakh se ghana darakht huiee”
[The moment my child called me mom

that instant changed (me) from a branch into a dense tree]
Among several other high-quality poets is Mr. Husain Imam of Washington,

D.C. (b. 1940), a professional engineer from Patna, or Azimabad, India, Urdu’s major
center. His early education in Arabic/Persian is well reflected in his works, both
poetry and prose. Mr. Imam, after his graduate studies in New York, now works as a
Senior Computer Scientist in Washington D.C. His poetry and prose works have been
published in the US as well as in Indo-Pakistani and West Asian journals. Two of his
verses below are quite philosophical and a reflection of Ghalib:
“her ta’al-luq beh gaya vaqt key sailāb mein
ban gaya hun ajnabi main halqa-e ahbab mein”
[Every relationship or bond is swept away in the flood

I am (now) a stranger among friends]
And,
“gham-e dunya, gham-e uqba, gham-e daurān, gham-e jānān

na jāney kitney sholon mein jaley hain umr bhar insān”
341
[Worries of the world, hereafter, personal life and the beloved

so many forces consume a man’s entire life]
Another poet, perhaps the leading US poet now, Syed Mohammed Hanif
Akhgar, (b. 1928), is also well grounded in Arabic/Persian, having studied at the
Islamia College in Lucknow before his professional education/career in banking and
finance in Pakistan and at the London School of Economics. After retiring from a
senior position at the United Nations, Mr. Akhgar (a title meaning “spark”) is settled
in New York. His themes and quality are surely reminiscent of the traditional poets,
especially Jigar. His collection, especially Khiyabān, has received universal
acclaim.373 Two of his famous verses reflect the principle of life as an “unending
travel.” The second is about “laughter as a cover-up.”
“azm-e safar sey bhi aur khatmey safar sey āghey bhi
rāhguzar hi rāhguzar hai rāhguzar sey āghey bhi”
[The intention of travel, travel itself and even beyond the end of travel;
there is a journey after journey even beyond the destination]
And,
“māyusian chupā-ey chaley ja rahey hain ham

bas qai-qa-hey lagā-ey chaley jar rahey hain ham”
[Those who laugh aloud and every now and then;

they really laugh to conceal their sorrows and failures]
Mr. Akhgar has served the cause of Urdu in the past three decades as a teacher/
poet and advisor, and has maintained a traditional lifestyle, decorum, and appearance.
Mohammed Taqi Abidi, a physician from Hyderabad (India), worked through

his career in the UK and the US, and is now based in Toronto, Canada; His Arabic
title “Taqi,” means pious, or God-conscious. Dr. Abidi, the poet rooted in the Hyder-
abadi tradition, is a reflection of Iqbal, as he covers all themes: humanism, nation-
alism, his love for the Urdu language, religion, and ghazal. As an authority on Iqbal,
his own role model, Dr. Abidi recently chaired a seminar on Iqbal in New York
(November 29, 2004), and delighted the audience, this author being a witness. Two
verses from his Gulistan Roya or (The Garden Cried)374 carry a powerful message in
Iqbal’s style:
“Urdu ka ab janaza nikalta hai hind se
manzar hai dardnāk zara ānkh bhar ke dekh”
[Urdu’s funeral comes out of India
373. Syed Mohammed Hanif Akhgar (1998).

374. Syed Taqi Abidi (2002), pp. 74-75.
342
Take a deep look at the tragic scene]
He expresses the plight of the Urdu language in India. The next verse is typical
of Iqbal:
“rehmat khuda ki hai teri harkat ki muntazir
ai be-naseeb pehley zara kām kar kay dekh”
[God’s kindness/blessing awaits your action

O, unfortunate one, just act and see]
Khalid Irfan, (b.1957), a popular poet of New York, and originally from
Karachi, focuses on satire and humor. Using local idioms, in the following he reveals
Muslims’ compulsion/hypocrisy, i.e., drinking, dating, and halal, or kosher meat.
“tumhari dāwat qubūl mujh ko magar tum itna khayal rakhna
beer kisi bhi brand ki ho chicken fried halāl rakhna”
[I accept your invitation but remember!

Any brand of beer will do but the fried chicken must be halāl]
In a caricature of Mr. Riaz Alvi, a banker of New York, Khalid wrote as follows
in his Bare Log, a witty compilation of satire on many Desis:375
“sabhi sey muskara kar boltey hain
muhabbat ka account kholtey hain”
[He smiles as he speaks with everyone

as if he opens an account of love]
Hindi poetry, which is now almost indistinguishable from Urdu, is part of the Desi
scene, mainly in New York. “Adabi Sangam,” or literary confluence, covers all languages,
but mostly Urdu, Hindi, Gujrati, and Punjabi, and is presided over by Ms. Negendra Puri
and well supported by Mr. Aiman, poet Adil Mansuri, and others. The group actually pro-
motes a hybrid Desi culture, “Hindustaniat,” by their mushaira sessions.
Among the few serious poets of Hindi is Dr. Bahubal Kumar (b. 1934), the
former Chief of Cardiology at the Lincoln Hospital of New York Medical College.
Dr. Kumar, a graduate of Bhopal Medical College, after several years of training in
the UK and getting an FRCP, is settled in New York. He writes in both scripts, and his
prior literary experience includes the chief editorship of Naya Samaj, a Bhopal-based
weekly in Urdu and Hindi. Recently (Jan. 2005), he started a health education mag-
azine, Health Message, in Hindi and English for free distribution. His poetry work,
large and mostly unpublished, reveals a simple language with a powerful message. In
the following verse, Dr. Kumar conveys the same scene as in the above-cited verse of
Hussain Imam, but more directly, a basic difference between Hindi and Urdu poetry:
375. Irfan Khalid (2003), p. 102.
343
“ya shor macha key dekho ya bheer jama ke dekho

kehti hain ke mela hai par her aik akela hai”
[Whether you make a noise or gather a crowd

and call it a carnival; but each (one) is really alone]
Adil Mansuri, (b.1936), is essentially one of the leading poets and a world
authority on Gujrati ghazal. Born in Ahmedabad, Mansuri, a Muslim whose mother
tongue is Gujrati, had learned both Hindi and Urdu and writes poetry in all three lan-
guages. Working in the insurance industry and based in New Jersey, Mansuri is a
well-known socialite/poet of the New York tri-state area. His Hindi work is, at times,
rooted deeply in Hindu philosophy. The following poem is rooted in Aetriya Upan-
ishad, with a concept that leaving the mother’s womb or taking birth may not be
desirable, after all.
He captured the pain of separation of man from the mother’s womb and the
agony in the alim, or world, powered by the sun:
“mujh ko apna garbh jivan yad hai
āj bhi chamri kay neechey jāgti
janampal ki vedna
shoon-eta ki chardevari mein
behry andkaron ki velap
meri qismat mein likha suraj ki srap
kāsh koiee phir mujhe
sparsh ki andhi gupha mein phenk dey”
[I still remember my unborn (womb) life

Even today I feel that (pain) distress of birth (process)
And that emptiness of the womb
The cries (laments) of the dark womb
And (I resent) this life cursed by the sun
I wish that someone
Would throw me back into the dark cave
(from where I came)
Adil Mansuri, a remarkable American, may be the only poet in the world
writing in three languages. There are many other excellent selections of Hindi
poems376 in his collection, and his Gujrati work is widely published.
15.3 URDU/HINDI AROUND THE WORLD
Urdu certainly has attained much more popularity than Hindi, especially in the
Middle Eastern countries. In other major centers, Australia and the Pacific countries,
both Urdu and Hindi have similar prospects. In South Africa, Urdu and Hindi, both
376. Adil Mansuri (1996), p. 166.
344
are well entrenched. In China and Japan, political expediency, more than anything
else, drives the potential of both languages. Dr. Javaid has reviewed this subject in
much detail. A few centers are relevant from a historical perspective.
The Middle East is especially relevant, as Urdu of Pakistan and its script gets
imperceptibly and smoothly transformed into full-blown Persian, if one travels from
Peshawar or Quetta to Mashad in Iran.377 The Persian tradition of India, richer than
even Iran in many respects, is a cultural bridge even today. Tehran University has
been teaching Urdu for years, and many periodicals in Iran are published in Urdu.
The Arabic Middle East now has some five to ten million Desi workers, Hindus and
Muslims who can read and write Arabic now. Urdu, in Saudi Arabia, is an undeclared
second language and is taught in schools. There are daily newspapers and magazines
in Urdu. In other Gulf countries, such as the UAE and Qatar, more than 50% of the
population uses Urdu, Hindi being virtually absent in script form, and mushairas are
held around the year.378
In South Africa, since the 18-19th century, both Urdu and Hindi along with
Gujrati and Tamil have had a significant presence. According to Dr. Javaid, Urdu-
Hindi is the language of some 35% of the population,379 and many minority-run
schools teach both scripts. South Africa has perhaps emerged as the single most
important center of Urdu and Hindi outside the subcontinent. Desi cultural life here
includes mushairas, which can be traced back to 1935.
In South-East Asia, Urdu/Hindi has significant relevance because of a shared
grammar. Malaysia, having been closely connected with Indian cultural traditions,
has a large Indo-Pakistani population. Hindi and Urdu are both referred to as “Hindi,”
and even Pakistani films and TV shows are characterized the same way, much to the
irritation of Pakistani writers.380 Urdu writers have played an important role during
World War II while working for the British Army or its renegade opponent, the Indian
National Army. It is important to note here that Malaysian language, or Bhasa,
belongs to the Austro-Asiatic family, which also includes the Indian Munda group
which provided the grammar component of Urdu’s DNA (vide chapter II-VI). Bhasa,
like Urdu, is also an isolating type and has absorbed Dravidian, SKT, Persian, and
Arabic. Some Munda or Dravidian words in Bhasa are: cubhona (pierce), dhona
(wash), gholna (dissolve), and cūmna (kiss). Persian words like chāpna (print), cādor
(sheet to cover or bed sheet), bū (smell), dawa (medicine), and SKT’s dukh (pain) and
devi (lady) make up Malaysian speech. The popularity of Hindi-Urdu films and songs
is understandable. Urdu is taught at university level, and the mushaira tradition has
taken hold since 1984.
Burma, now Myanmar, a part of British India since the 19th century, has a sig-
nificant Indian population that has settled as Burmese citizens, and the Urdu-Persian
tradition has been visible since that time. Burma has produced dozens of Urdu poets
and writers who still publish Urdu magazines and newspapers and also have the
377. Inamul Haq Javaid pp. 170-187.

378. Ibid. pp. 189-225.
379. Ibid. pp. 391-405.
380. Khatir Ghaznavi in Inamul Haq Javaid (1996), pp. 81-88.
345
mushaira tradition.381 The last Moghul king, a poet who was exiled here, is entombed
in Rangoon.
15.4 URDU/HINDI FUTURE IN THE DIASPORA
Dr. Javaid’s work is certainly comprehensive and pioneering, having no par-

allel in any linguistic group, i.e., Hindi, Tamil, or Bangla. The book, a great resource,
however, is not meant to project the language’s future. As discussed, the weakness in
DNS does not project a happy, future except its relegation to religious services. Urdu
has attained an international status because of its script (Chapter XVI), which always
had a global potential, including in the Middle East. As a spoken language repre-
senting Desi culture, Urdu/Hindi seems to have a great potential, as is clear from its
dynamism even after four to eight generations in the UK, Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, and
the Caribbean.
Will it ever become Chinese of Chinatown or Spanish of the South Bronx and
California? These languages have become accepted as a medium of instruction, in
addition to being added to street signs in New York. Urdu/Hindi, or just Urdu,
perhaps will never assume the status of Chinese because of the different historical
experiences of the two people. Chinese represents an independent civilization, which
is self-sustaining, powerful, and dynamic, and has been continuous for 4,000 years.
Self-confident Chinese replicate Chinatowns and don’t suffer from any complexes
with regard to others.
Desi culture and language, an extension of Mesopotamia, has been a hybrid
and all-absorbing for 6,000 years and has largely been dependent on Western ideas,
script, and language. Their most significant language/script has always been a
Western loan, SKT/DNS, Arabic-Persian, and now English. For Desis, English
remains the first choice at home and abroad. There is nothing good or bad here,
except that human affairs are driven by utilitarianism everywhere. Desis’ preference
of English over Urdu/Hindi reveals pragmatism, prudence, and utilitarianism.
The chapter reveals the status of Urdu/Hindi around the world, with major
emphasis on the Desi diaspora of North America. It includes a brief review of poets
and their poetry, a description of their quality, and a comparison with the poets and
poetry of the subcontinent. The chapter focuses on the problem faced by Hindi script,
which has been challenged by other Indian scripts like Gujrati and Tamil, etc. It also
notes the vigorous presence of Urdu script everywhere, especially the Middle East,
Africa, Australia and the Pacific, and North America. The chapter also debates the
“unknown” potential of Urdu/Hindi in North America among the younger generation
of Desis.
381. Sabir Afaqi in Inamul Haq Javaid (1996), pp. 93-100.
346
CHAPTER XVI. URDU/HINDI SCRIPTS: COMMON ORIGIN
16.0 INTRODUCTION
Urdu/Hindi can be effectively written in all the three well-known scripts or

alphabets, APS, DNS, and GRS. All these three had their beginning, as mentioned
earlier, in the West Asian Phoenician-Aramaic script, also known incorrectly as
Semitic script, since the term is purely mythical.
The popular Greek term, “alphabet,” for writing is a well known acronym after
the initials of two APS letters, alif and bey, called alpha and beta in Greek and the
corresponding term, “ABJID,” in the Arab world includes two additional letters, [j] or
jeem, and dal [d] or Greek delta. In the DNS their phonetic names are exactly the
same: a, ba, ja, da, etc. Incidentally, these and most other names of the letters had a
meaning attached to them, now lost in GRS and DNS but still current in Arabic and
Hebrew. PAS consisting of twenty-two letters is now accepted as the mother of all
three, GRS, DNS, and APS.
16.1 MYTHS ABOUT WRITING
The history of writing, when initiated in the 18-19th century, was based on
several religious and cultural myths prevalent around 500 BC, especially after Alex-
ander’s campaign in West Asia, inclusive of Pakistan, which was then a part of India.
As discussed earlier in chapters II -V, these myths include the assumptions that
Hebrew or Sanskrit with their script were man’s oldest, and IE languages and their
left-to-right scripts (GRS and DNS) were mythically “Aryan,” as opposed to right-to-
left running “Semitic,” along with the claims that Greeks were the inventors of
alphabets. And the Semitic alphabets were presumed as inferior, with defective
direction and absent vowel letters.
Another popular myth assumed that alphabetic writing is essential for high
culture and scientific creativity; and the Chinese language and script had the lowest
rank. Some of these ideas (SKT/HEB) were honestly mythical, but others, such as
347
Aryanism, Semitism anti-Semitism, and anti-Chinese posture, were deliberately

racist or political. We know now that human creativity has expressed itself in every
script; Chinese writing, by one estimate, had generated more books by the 19th
century than the rest of the world combined and it still remains creative;382 and that
the most creative phases of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Indus Valley (India) did not
need alphabets.
Indians, according to Prof. Coulmas, had believed that Elephant face God,383
Ganesha, son of God Shiva, had invented writing and even had broken off one of his
tusks to use as a pencil, while the Egyptians and Germans had credited God Thoth
and Odin respectively for the origin. India among older civilizations is unique for not
having a consistent script or any recorded history. Asokan inscriptions were forgotten
and deciphered by British in 19th century AD, after almost 2000 years. Alberuni (10th
century AD), an authority on Indian culture, was told that a previous script older than
DNS was lost and/or forgotten, which had lead to illiteracy, ignorance, and
estrangement from sciences; and that someone named Vyas rediscovered alphabets of
50 letters by an inspiration from God.
Origins of Greco-Roman, Arabic and Dev-Nagari Scripts

→ ARABIC, PERSIAN, URDU
NEBATEAN
↑ ↓
ARAMAIC→ ASOKAN-BRAHMI
↓
DEV-NAGARI-HINDI
SYRIAC
↑
NORTH SEMITIC → HEBREW
↓ PHONECIAN
↑ GRECO-ROMAN
PROTO-SEMITIC
↓
SOUTH SEMITICETHIOPIC, BRAHMI ?
382. Florian Coulmas (1997), p. 109.

383. Ibid. p. 46.
348
Chapter XVI. Urdu/Hindi Scripts: Common Origin
Figure XVI.1 Cuneiform Scripts
This apparently explains the two gaps in India’s written continuity: Indus
Valley’s demise to Asoka’s inscription (~1500 BC to 250 BC); and from 250 BC to
~AD 300, or the onset of SKT’s glorious phase.
16.2 A TIME LINE OF WRITING (GLOBAL)
The discovery and decipherment of cuneiform and hieroglyphics has removed

all myths. Writing is now seen emerging as logographic, pictographic, or hiero-
glyphic around Bronze Age everywhere, China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hittite,
Elamite, and Indus Valley. The next stage is the system of phonetic symbols as in
cuneiform, starting from Iraq (~3500 BC) and spreading everywhere except Egypt,
Indus Valley, and China. The Chinese still use their own pictorial writing system.
Indus Valley became dead after 1500 BC and Egyptians became bi-and tri-scriptional
after Alexander (~300 BC) and the rest of West Asia and Iran turned bi-scriptional,
adopting emerging branches from proto Semitic as shown in Fig.XVI.1; from the
North Semitic had emerged Aramaic, which gradually was modified into Asokan
Brahmi and Arabic as well; Urdu and Hindi script surely had common roots in
Aramaic. Some scholars think Brahmi’s origin may be from South Semitic, but these
are purely academic arguments. Incidentally GRS, too, had its origin from North
Semitic.
In Urdu’s context, cuneiform and PAS, or North Semitic, are most relevant;
these will be discussed in detail. PAS itself, which was active around 1500 BC along
349
with the cuneiform, disappeared almost completely after Alexander (300 BC). In
essence it was adopted into, GRS, and ABS around 5-700 BC. Both initially were bi-
directional switching to right running later. GRS created all European, and ABS
created most Indian scripts, including DNS of SKT-Hindi and others, while PAS,
keeping its original right left orientation, created all “Semitic” scripts, including
Arabic and Hebrew (~AD 300).
16.3 SOUTH ASIANS’ POPULAR VIEW
Most educated people in South Asia—Hindus, Muslims, and others—view

DNS as purely Indian and/or Hindu, and APS as a Muslim/Arab creation, each being
separate and independent. This nineteenth-century concept is encouraged through
programmed education. People even believe Panini to be the inventor of the phonetic
alphabet. During Panini’s time (500-400 BC) in the northwest (Pakistan) of the Indian
continent and Iran, we find at least two scripts, cuneiform (Iran) and Aramaic, a pos-
sible third, ABS, and a fourth, Kharosthi. Panini’s phonemes classified by him were
memorized verbally and appeared in DNS only 1000 years after him (AD 700-1000).
But Panini must have been a literate scholar, though his own writing does not exist.
The misinformation, however, about spoken SKT and its DNS as a combined,
organic, inseparable whole remains a dogma among most Indians; they think that
SKT was born its own mythical script.
16.4 PHONETIC ALPHABETS
The evolution of Sumerians changed its older logo, or pictograph, to cuneiform

symbols assigned to a phonetic value (~3500 BC). Written on clay tablets with a
wedge (table XVI.1) and burnt in the fire, cuneiform had created permanent records
documenting the oldest civilization. The cuneiform system, initially syllabic,
depended on384 hundreds of symbols, as in Akkadian/Assyrian. Persian Emperor
Darius had reduced the numbers to 41 signs, which included 3 vowel signs (a, i, and
u) for both long and short vowels.385 In Ugarit (Semitic) language, the numbers were
reduced to 30. Table XVI.1 provides a sample of cuneiform showing how the three
words, Delhi, Lahore, and Lucknow, could be written in Akkadian syllabic, which
had to fit Delhi in 3 available sound symbols (pronounced “di-il-li”), and Lahore and
Lucknow would be pronounced as shown.
The idea of alphabet, thus, was like the invention of an engine; one could shape
it into a car, motorcycle, airplane, etc., all looking different but doing the same job of
transportation. Scripts do the same job of transporting ideas. Of the three writing
systems, APS is mainly based on consonants: vowel symbols or signs are usually
marked by diacritics called ahrab, meaning, “to make it flow.” In DNS, consonants
and vowels have separate letters and additional vowel signs are also available as dia-
384. Samuel Mercer (1961), pp. 3-5.

385. Florian Coulmas (1997), pp. 79-89.
350
critics called mātra. In GRS, consonants and vowels are represented by separate
letters. Each script has its own merits and weaknesses and is adapted to various lan-
guages.
16.5 EARLIEST ALPHABETS
Parallel to Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptians were using hieroglyphic, a represen-

tation of object, animals, etc., by abbreviated pictures. These earliest logograms con-
verged with phonetic values to give the earliest alphabets. Table 16.2, a composite
reconstruction from Ludovici,386 Dhirendra Verma,387 and Coulmas,388 and others
compares the oldest versions of the 3 scripts, GRS, ABS, and PAS. Most of them
have a name and meaning; Alif, alfa, a, or ā meant “ox head,” and bait, beta, bey, or
ba meant “a house or tent,” shown by an enclosed space. Likewise, m or mem (water)
as wave, aien (an eye) shown as such or as a circle and a human head (resh) became
the ‘R’ symbol. One can notice the variation, alif becoming vertical in Greek and
reverse in oldest Indian or ABS. This, in essence, is the basis for so-called Phoe-
nician, or Phoenician-Aramaic script, but was developed for local usage by the Phoe-
nicians, whose language was Semitic. The script became universal, along with the
earliest names.
Phoenicians, who taught their alphabets to Greeks and Egyptians as affirmed
unanimously by all scholars, had been aggressive West Asian naval merchants on
Syrio-Lebanese coasts between 2800 BC to Alexander’s time,389 peaking in their
political and economic power around 1000 BC. They had traded in red dye
(“Phoinix” in Greek), their claim to fame, and other merchandises, including Indian
textile, gold, silver, etc., along the coastlines covering India, Africa, the Persian Gulf,
the Mediterranean, and even up to British Isles. Their religion was contemporary and
had included Gods and Goddesses, and human sacrifices by burning, etc. The most
ancient script, proto Semitic, (17-1800 BC), was improved by the Phoenicians to
alphabetic form. They used papyrus, mainly, instead of clay tablet. The need for
writing was crucial for business records in their language, which, by default, had to
spread among fellow merchants and their widely spread ports or colonies.
Among various scripts in the West Asian cultural cauldron, Sinai, hieroglyphs,
cuneiform, etc., Phoenician, being the simplest, survived. As seen on table 16.2 they
had very astutely simplified the older writing. A detailed study of 22 alphabets of
PAS by Coulmas and others390 reveals the subsequent evolution of PAS into Aramaic
and its other streams, including ABS.391
386. L. J. Ludovici (1968), p. 130.

387. Dhirendra Verma (1972), p. 7.
389. William Durant (Vol. II), pp. 291-298.
390. R. E. Asher (1994), pp. 3836-39.
391. R. K. Mookerji (1989), pp. 275-288.
351
Figure XVI.2 Resemblance between Oldest Letters of Aramaic, Brahmi,

Greek and their Meaning
Besides the physical resemblance, a critical thing to note is the continuation of

the same names in every system, Greco-Roman or Indian. As said earlier, these
names had represented the symbols of certain objects, for example, şh ? (sheen),
which meant “teeth” looks like them, r (resh) like a head, d (deleth) door, and so on,
besides house [B], alif (ox), (ayin) o or eye, [m] ma or water, [l] lamed/lam/la (goad),
ja, jeem (jamel or camel), etc. Since Aramaic had become the lingua franca of Greater
Mesopotamia, including Greece; and also adopted by the Persian empire, the script
was disseminated everywhere.
It is quite possible that PAS might have come to the Indian coasts much earlier
through Phoenician. Some scholars have recognized that “pāni,” a mercantile com-
munity described as a smart, selfish, profiteering band, lacking Aryan speech and
Gods in the Rigved, were really Phoenician.392
392. M. M. Deshpande (1993), p. 167.
352
16.6 ARAMAIC TO GREEK-ROMAN
Aramaic and other Semitic languages were entirely consonant-based and were
perfect for Semitic writing. With most root words based on three consonants, the
resulting words are read and understood as they are. Two examples follow, with
words written without an intervening vowel; if “aadam” —a-d-m written as adm, it
will be read as ādam, because with other alternate vowels, the resulting words, i.e.,
ādum, ādūm, ādim, ādim etc., are meaningless. But absent vowels can create variable
pronunciations sometimes. The words did vary in phonation at times, e.g.,
david>davood in Arabic.
When Greeks borrowed these alphabets to use in their language, which had
longer words, they had faced a problem. One example which clarifies the need to
create vowel letters as cited by Fred Bodmer; 393 it is the Greek word for man,
avθρωπσς (anthropos). Written with consonants only in a Semitic way, -n-θ-r-ρ-σ,
one cannot read with five blank vowels spots as anthropos, and by using 12 different
vowel sounds with these 5 consonant orders, Bodmer figures out about 3 million pro-
nounceable arrangements with many meaningful words. Vowel symbols, thus, was a
Greek necessity and contribution, which has enabled the alphabet system to gain
global acceptance. As is quite clear, Greek (and its later derivative, Roman-Latin or
English) letters are the closest copies of Aramaic-Phoenician script in name and
appearance, with slight modification.
Various names in GRS, for example, alpha, beta, bi, delta, di, etc., of course,
are meaningless in Greek and Latin languages. The direction of writing in ancient
Greek was right to left and left to right. But left to right prevailed. From Greek-
Roman system arose all other scripts, German, and Russian Cyrillic, with local pho-
netic modification. Nineteenth-century linguists and politicians during the peak of
Aryan racism had suppressed the Aramaic legacy in GRS. For them, left to right
script was “Aryan.” After Alexander, Greek letters also came into use in the
northwest around Islamabad, Pakistan (ancient Taxilla), by Asoka.
16.7 URDU’S ARABIC SCRIPT
Urdu phonetic values outlined in chapter II are represented by as many as 37

single letters and one ligature. Presented in table 16.3, they include thirty Arabic
letters and seven Indianized ones, equivalents of [p], [ţ], [c], [d], [r], and [g] pho-
nemes alien to modern Arabic and shown enclosed < > in the table. Modern Arabic
writing using the cursive letters is a recent modification of Aramaic from around AD
400, two centuries before the advent of Islam. But its evolution from Aramaic started
around 300 BC,394 and with the spread of Islam, this script, like its parent, became
global. Arabic script has been the most dominating one throughout the Middle Ages,
carrying high technology, sciences, medicine, mathematics, and literature. After
393. F. Bodmer (1985), p. 59.

353
Figure XVI.3 Urdu’s Arabic Letters*
about a millennium it had ceded its dominance to another West Asian descendant,
Roman-English alphabet after the 19th century.
Arabic scripts have been utilized for writing a large variety of linguistic fam-
ilies: 1) Indo-European languages, such as Spanish, Slavonic, Persian, Pushto, and
Balochi; 2) Indo-Aryan dialects, including Urdu/Hindi, Bengali, Gujrati, Sindhi,
Kashmiri, Punjabi, etc.; 3) the Semitic family, including Arabic and its various dia-
lects, Syriac, Egyptian, Somatic, and Swahili; 4) North African Berber; 5) Turkish-
Altaic; 6) Central Asian Uighur, Kazakh, Uzbek, and Chechen; and 7) the Austric-
Munda family, which includes Malaysian and others.
Of these, Malaysian and Turkish shifted to Roman letters in the 20th century
and Bengali to Nagari variant in the 19th century. Arabic script started using vowel
signs more strictly after the advent of Islam, and now strictly observed in writing
Quran for a most accurate rendering. However, for general use, vowel signs are more
354
often ignored with almost no consequence. An Urdu literate too can read Urdu
without vowel signs, but this is not true for DNS. In addition to vowel signs, Arabic
script made two most remarkable deviations from Aramaic: (1) an almost complete
change of symbols or signs; and (2) the concept and use of abbreviated symbols.
Figure XVI.4 Dev-Nagari Letters of Urdu/Hindi
The change of symbol has been most drastic when compared to GRS, which
maintained a significant resemblance to Aramaic. The order too has been changed,
355
based on appearance and shape. Alif is a vertical line, and not a derivative of ox head.
B, a closed rectangle, is now a horizontal open-curved plate; five letters in this ‘B’
series, including Urdu’s hard t and p in the top line (table 16.3), are easier to put to
visual memory and learn. Aramaic gimmel, or jeem, or the original c/j equivalent
phoneme [J], for camel, now resembles camel even more. Like the B series, this ‘J,’
or jeem series of four has same advantage of shape for easier learning; chey [c] as in
church, is an Urdu-Persian innovation. The same advantage of resemblance drives the
[d] delta or dāl series of seven; dāl does not look like a door, zal and zey, not like zayn
(weapon) (not shown in table 16.2), and [r], not like head. Greek r is still a head, and
cerebral [d] and [r] of Urdu are an adoption in this sense. Sn and shin still resemble
the teeth as in Aramaic and Greek, but [t] or taw, fourth horizontal column, and [m]
mem (water), in the 6th column, are completely changed, unlike Greeks’ faithful con-
tinuity. [k] kāf (palm of hand) also look different and now resemble [g] gāf of Urdu-
Persian in the 5th line. [f] fey, [gh] ghaein are Arabic innovations. Lām or [l] still
resemble a goad or lance. A ligature of lām and alif, called lamalif, in the last line is
taken to be an additional letter. Yey, or yodh, [y], has an additional symbol as big yey,
used in Urdu to express plural in some verbs. Hamza, is an additional letter equiv-
alent to the vowel alif, or a, which replaces alif in the middle of a word. This is indeed
useful in various diphthongs and in the miniature script.
16.7.1 Miniature Letters/Connectivity/Vowels
The concept of abbreviated letters, used in the beginning or medially, in a word

had converted Arabic into a kind of shorthand, as elaborated by Coulmas. For
example, in Bey series, a vertical
[ ﾑ ] curve represents the beginning and a millimeter size notch [ ˘ ] in the
middle, with required number of dot (s) as the basis. One or three dots below make it
bey or pey, and two or three above, tey or say. A single dot above makes it noon or [n],
and two below means yey or y. Jeem series and others are represented by the head
with the required number of dots.
Miniatures along with the vowel signs are the space savers in the Urdu script.
Vowel sign [a] or zaber and [e] zer are shown by (-) above or below the letter respec-
tively, [u] or pesh shown as a comma ( , ) above the letter; the vowel [i] uses the letter
yey or two dots ( : ) below the notch; long [ā] is shown as (~) on top, called “mudh”
on alif. And for other long vowels and diphthongs, Urdu utilizes assistance of alif,
vow, yeye and hamza, etc. A unique sign (ω), called tashdeed, on a letter denotes
double consonants cc, tt, etc. To show cerebral hard d or t, small toey, or t, is placed
on a notch for tey or dal/d, hard d. Some scripts use four dots instead ( : : ) as Sindhi.
The abbreviated letters and floating vowels, a real space saver, had, according to
Bodmer,395 inspired the evolution of shorthand.
395. F. Bodmer (1985), p. 74.
356
16.8 NAGARI (HINDI) SCRIPT
DNS also consists of phonetic alphabet with vowel signs as well as letters. It is
the nearest and most advanced stream from ABS (table 16.2, 16.4) branch of North
Semitic or Aramaic. It is a comprehensive script, which has adapted to a multitude of
phonemes accumulated from Munda, Dravidian, SKT, and Arabic speech. In its
current form (table 16.4), it consists of forty-nine letters, including 13 long and short
vowel symbols. Its one outstanding feature is single, distinctive symbols for ligature
sounds, i.e., [kh], [ph], [th], [gh], [bh], [ch], and cerebral retro flexes, i.e., ţ, d, etc.
There are two similarities in its evolution with modern Arabic script: its contem-
porary beginning also in AD 300-400 in the form of “Gupta Alphabets,” which grad-
ually transformed to Dev Nagari in the 10th century AD; the other parallel is also a
drastic departure in shape from the Asokan form (table 16.2).
The idea of alphabets was fully developed already after 1000 BC, and it was
not difficult to experiment, like Arabic writers did, to create new forms. ABS (table
16.2 and 16.3) does resemble Aramaic more in shapes than Gupta Nagari, where
alphabet shapes were changed drastically as in Arabic but Semitic names retained. In
comparing tables 16.2, 16.3, and 16.4, one can easily appreciate the persistence of
Semitic names such as alif or ā, ba, ta, sa, ha, za, ra, va (wav), etc.; in others, jeem,
meem, nun, lam etc., one can see the phonemes of Ja, ma, na, and la, etc. Of course
these names are names only, with no inherent meaning. The order and arrangement of
DNS alphabet (table 16.4) is based on the phonetic grid discussed in chapter II. The
stress was on memorization rather than on writing. When writing began, symbols
were just placed on phonetic values. The first three rows in the table present the
vowels letters and sign or their diacritics or matras. The consonant starting in the
fourth row follow the phonetic grid table II.1. Five Arabic phonemes are indicated by
adding a dot below the regular letters, as shown in the additional five boxes, with
heavy lines under ka, kha, ga, ja, and pha.
Dev Nagari is simple but not a space saver like Urdu. It is close to a perfect adap-
tation for Indian writing and has advantages over Greek; its vowels signs or matras are
innovative. Additionally, it does provide a full line of vowel letters to initiate a word, if
needed. It is not a perfect script; there is none. Is it easier to learn? Any answer will be
purely subjective. This author, as a fifth-grader, did find it easy to learn after learning
Urdu and English. Compared to Urdu-Arabic, Nagari cannot be read in the absence of
vowel signs. Variation in Nagari obviously led to most North Indian scripts, such as
Gujarti, Marathi, Bengali. They have the same phonetic system, but look different from
each other and carry the same Semitic names. The creation of new scripts, apparently,
is not a major challenge, as is evident most explicitly in India. According to Pattanayak,
as quoted by Coulmas,396 a new script is created in India every three months. Scripts
apparently assume a divinity also if any religious reformer happens to adopt it, Guru-
mukhy or Punjabi script of Sikhism being a most recent example. Of course, the most
famous are Arabic of Muslims and DNS of Hindus.
396. Florian Coulmas (1997), p. 199.
357
16.9 ARABIC(-URDU)-NAGARI EXCHANGE
There is some evidence that evolving modern Arabic and Gupta-Nagari

alphabets, during 3-5 century AD, might have had mutual exchange. Thus, the shapes
of several Arabic letters might have been adapted the change in orientation towards
left to right and vertical suspension to suit DNS. There is every possibility of this
because of the existence of pre-Islamic Arab mercantile colonies on the coast of
Gujarat, Karela and Sindh is well documented.
Indian mercantile colonies too are well known in the Persian Gulf area and Iraq
from the time of the Sumerians. Arabic’s influence, if any, on Nagari might have
occurred during the Gupta period or even earlier, when several regional scripts were
initiated after the break-up of Aramaic domination. A former professor of Arabic at
Allahabad University, the late Abdul Latif al-Hindi, once explained to me this
exchange in context with at least six letters equivalent of da/da, ra/rey, la/lam. Ja/
jeem,aa/alif and ma/mem.
A closer look at tables 16.2, 16.3, and 16.4 reveals that Arabic borrowed Asokan
da/dal and ra/rey with concavity facing left; da/ and rey series make up seven Urdu
letters (table 16.3). DNS simply reversed this orientation to the right. Nagari’s la had
involved the reversal of the lower end concavity of la/lam of PAS/ABS and an 180-
degree rotation of the lower end to face left. The lower-end curve was also slashed by a
line in order to distinguish it from Nagari’s soft t/ta. Ja/jeem interchange is most inter-
esting: APS jeem, shaped as camel or a reversed number five, turned 180 degrees to
look like number five and went further down clockwise by 90 degrees to become
Nagari’s Ja. Mem of APS and DNS ma perhaps was also derived or inspired by Asokan
ma, which had a round bulbous lower end, with two upcoming spurs (tables 16.2 and
16.1). Removal of one spur and turning the bulb upside down, perhaps, created mem of
APS, while Nagari just attached half vowel a [I] to it to get its own ma. Asokan
scholars were indeed innovative; all that was needed was to create symbols and signs
that looked different from each other. This basic principle had to be behind all scripts.
Besides these mutual exchanges between DNS and APS, the u vowel Arabic
sign, paish ( ‫) و‬, is shared with DNS, which had pioneered a reverse paish ( ، ) for long
ū. A small nun ( ‫) ن‬, adopted from Arabic, called Chand bindu, or moon dot, in DNS
is placed on top to generate nasalization. These exchanges in fact between the three
script systems must have been active and free, without pride, polemic, and com-
plexes, like any other educational or technical exchange. There are other evidences of
exchange even between GRS and ABS; t and/or cross of PAS (table 16.2) remains a T
in GRS but loaned as K (+) of ABS, and the letter R, when reversed, created the
Greek zeta ( ζ ) and its ma, Greek delta ( δ ) with the loss of one spur.
16.10 INDIAN WRITING SYSTEM SYLLABIC/ALPHABETIC
As noted in table 16.2, the first eleven signs or letters of Asokan Brahmi, as has
been elaborated by Prof. Dani, are a clear copy of PAS. ABS, of course, is reputed to
have created the Gupta alphabet in AD 300-400, which transformed to DNS with the
358
addition of a horizontal line to hang the letters. Having such a large variety of inde-
pendent scripts is really an obvious defect in India from the perspective of national
unity, the 1960s debate against DNS being a clear manifestation of such defect.
Indian historians seem to shy away from the fact of having borrowed the PAS
to create DNS. Having no academic evidence against this, they maintain the mythical
line of SKT/DNS combination as eternal-Divine. The other scripts are presumed to be
corrupted derivatives of SKT/DNS; confusion prevails, or is allowed to prevail. They
even cover up the major difference between DNS of the north and Dravidian script of
the south. They do not have a clear concept between an alphabetic script and a syl-
labic one; Dravidian writers call their script “alphabetic,” which is apparently wrong.
Figure XVI.5 Indus Valley Writing/Seals
Just to make it clear, syllabic scripts are oldest and each symbol/sign/letter rep-
resents one sound or syllable. For example, Japanese script has 5 vowels and 17 con-
sonants, and they work with 85 letters or symbols and 5 vowels, a total of 90 letters.
Likewise, Tamil, with its 18 consonants and 12 vowels, has more than two hundred
separate letters, signs, and symbols, or whatever one calls them. Telugu has some
500; one must note here that SKT language was, and is, written independently in all
these scripts, and DNS is just a modern script since AD 800-1000 and limited to the
north. South Indian DR scripts might be much older than even ABS. They had
ancient naval connections with the Middle East and might have had mutual influence.
Dravidian ancient script is called “Vattelutto” and is related to Semitic, according to
Oxford historian Percival Spears.397 South Indian linguists erroneously call their
script “alphabetic” because they confuse the terms “alphabet” and “alphabetic script.”
The word “alphabet” is sometimes used loosely to mean a letter or symbol in the
English language. Truly alphabetic scripts like GRS, Arabic, Hindi, and SKT utilize a
much smaller number of signs or letters. GRS and Arabic are most representative of
alphabetic scripts. If one takes a closer look at 74 symbols in Asokan Brahmi, it gives
397. Percival Spears (1994), p. 43.
359
an impression of syllabic script. These are 8 symbols each for ka and la; SKT and
DNS with some 50 signs/letters also reveal a syllabic tendency.
16.11 POLITICS OF SCRIPTS AND INDUS VALLEY
The Indus Valley seals, as mentioned in chapter V, are beautifully carved figures
of animals along with some writing. This pre-Aryan Indus culture (3500-1700 BC), a
contemporary of Sumero-Babylonian and Dravidian Elamite of Persia, discovered in
the 1920s, was a major archeological discovery and had the potential to undermine the
antiquity of West Asian culture. It was particularly significant from another per-
spective, as Brahmi was already linked, as early as 1904, to the West Asian Phoenician-
Aramaic system. Scholars had hoped to find an older Aryan culture and script.
The decipherment of this script, a story in itself, reviewed by Arco Parpola,398
uncovers a feverish race between emotional Aryanism and language academics.
Hrozny, a pro-SKT German scholar, according to Parpola, had quickly hailed it as
SKT, by just looking at it. But there is no satisfactory decipherment, and most authors
favor a Dravidian connection.
The script consists of four hundred plus signs (fig. 16.2), too many for alpha-
betic writing, and appears to be in a right-to-left direction. The average length of
script, according to Robinson, consists of four signs on a line and five in a text, the
longest being 20 signs in three lines.399 Some scholars see an Austric-Munda con-
nection in it since the discovery of similar signs on a wooden plank in far-off Easter
Island (the islanders are Austric speakers) 13,000 miles away in the Pacific.
Austric-Munda, according to Hembran (1982), may be the chief architect of
Indus Valley, as quoted by Coulmas.400 Linkage with Easter Island, apparently, is a
theory that requires further research. For Dravidian hypothesis, a consensus among
scholars is based on numerous fish signs along with stars. Scholars have connected
the script with rebus astral writing names. In Tamil, fish and star are both called min;
one sign of fish with six stars and six strokes has been read as “arumir,” i.e., the Ple-
iades, in the ancient Tamil text, according to Andrew Robinson.401
SKT has obviously no chance to be remotely connected with it, unless it is doc-
umented by a new kind of evidence with two scripts. Moreover, in various Vedic
texts, Brahamanas and Upanishads, according to Basham, there is no clear mention
of writing.402 As noted earlier in chapter IV, India, from west of Delhi up to Susa in
Iran, was a Dravidian country with proto-Elamite language, pretty much established
and recently reaffirmed by Prof. Possehl in detail.403 Incidentally, Elamites older
writing (also undeciphered) has its closest resemblance with Indus writing.
398. Arco Parpola (1994).

399. Andrew Robinson (1999), pp. 147-148.
401. Andrew Robinson (1999), pp. 147-148.
402. A. L. Basham (1989), pp. 396-400.
403. Gregory L. Possehl (1996,), p. 67.
360
Reluctance to accept West Asian linguistic legacy had created a new theory of
Aryans being indigenous in 1936.404 The new trend now is to link Indus seals with
SKT and Brahmi. In the U.S.A., George Feuerstein and his colleagues have pursued
this idea.405 In an effort to prove India as the Aryan homeland, they claim to have
studied the Indus Seal and discovered SKT in it. A quotation is suitable here: “Fur-
thermore, a structural analysis of the inscriptions indicates that the text on the stearite
seals follows grammatical rules like that of SKT.” It is amazing that without even
knowing the meaning of what is written there, they are able to understand the
grammar of SKT. Then later, they retract by saying on the same page: “Nevertheless,
one cannot claim that the script has been deciphered.”
Such statements, written or verbal, though never serious, surely reflect the
mindset. One good friend in New York recently confided, “If you break the seal, the
sound emitted resembles SKT phoneme or alphabets.” The most recent studies by
Indian scholars have reviewed a well-established presence of Aramaic script as well
as Aramaic language within the Indian subcontinent at several locations in the
northwest, 406 one in Islamabad (Pakistan) or ancient Taxilla. These Aramaic
speakers/literati located within the Asokan province were addressed in their mother
tongue by Asoka, who even before becoming king, was a prince/governor of this
province. Thus, Arabic words such as Malik (king), rah (road), dyn/din (law), bidat
(innovation/creation), etc., were in use by Asokan scholars and/or by Governor
Asoka himself. Aramaic and Assyrian links with India are well established, and a
mutual exchange of scripts was natural.
Three forms of script, Roman-English, Arabic-Urdu, and Nagari-Hindi, have

unmistakable and clear evidence of a common ancestry rooted in the West Asian and
Phoenician-Aramaic system. The names of 16 of 22 original ancient Phoenician
letters were based on some meaningful objects, e.g., bait (house). The chapter further
reveals that these names of the objects became the names of letters in GRS, DNS, and
APS. The chapter also notes the worldwide acceptance of the West Asian origin of
writing, with the exception of some reluctance in India.
404. Dhirendra Verma (1972), pp. 18-19.

405. G. Feuerstein et al. (1995), pp. 138-140.
406. B. N. Mukerji (1984), pp. 9-18.
361
CHAPTER XVII. MESOPOTAMIAN REALISM AND RE-CLASSI-
FICATION
17.0 INTRODUCTION
Few people, including the highly educated, know that modern linguistic classi-
fication is based on the Judeo-Christian creation myth reconciled with the theory of
five races, white, black, Chinese (yellow), Middle Eastern (Arab/Jew), and Indians,
later reduced to only three, based on Noah’s three sons, including cursed Ham procre-
ating the Africans (black), Indians (semi black), and Chinese, along with respective
languages noted in chapters 1 and 2.
The theory of evolution and genetic/DNA, the African genesis of man and his
dispersal, and the modern ideas of the centrality of middle east farmers407 as the
authors of IE, DR, and SEM languages have not yet impacted the linguistic concepts.
The third dimension linguistic of Mesopotamia, the home of IE, DR, Semitic farmers,
one of two (other being Chinese) independent (oldest) civilizations also remains,
excluded in order to maintain the mythical classification. Even enlightened linguists
like Ruhlen and Greenberg, who created super families, retained the basic idea of
Semitic and IE/Aryan families.
Mesopotamia, now widely accepted as the source of three, Greek, Indian, and
Middle Eastern religious ideas, the sciences, and culture, is also the source of major
languages specially IE, SEM, DR, Turkish families. The centrality of the Middle
East, also recently reviewed by New York Times, calls for the integration of this
enormous linguistic resource, “fossil languages,” (chapter III), of Mesopotamia into a
new classification. Linguists, as noted in previous chapters, have accepted Meso-
potamia as the source of script, but its grammar and vocabulary remain unintegrated.
Apparently Linguists, having tracked into the reconstruction business, create hypo-
thetical cognates linking families but ignore the real ones. For example, a real Semitic
loan into Greek, Yane (wine) (Hebrew-yavin) on linear A (about 1200-1400 BC)
407. New York Times, May 6, 2003.
363
remain ignored, but PIE weino and Proto Semitic wajn (chap II) is considered an aca-
demic achievement; there are other examples. As noted (chap III) a whole lot of Sum-
erian and other fossil vocabulary have been presumed as Semitic, IE, or DR: Books
on linguistic, including those by Ruhlen, George Yule and Bodmer generally do not
relate to Sumerians at all, except in the discussion on script. Thus the church red line
for linguistic research drawn in the 18th century remains pretty respected: Meso-
potamia obviously unsettles the church dogmas as well as the existing classification.
Church dogmas as well as SKT’s Hindu dogma and several other linguistic
issues need a bit of elaboration to reach our new classification.
17.1 LINGUISTS AND THE CHURCH
In Europe, linguistic science owes its debt to missionaries, generating bibles in

vernaculars everywhere. Modern “linguistics” has remained church-driven right from
the 18th century, dominated by colonizing powers, French, British, and German, etc.
As noted in the first two chapters, French missionaries/scholars in South India excited
the whole of Europe by their Ezour Vedam, a French concoction to convert Indians;
and acceptance of INDIA as cradle of civilization and the white man’s lost homeland
with SKT as the mother of all, an idea fully concordant with Hindu mythology. An
important idea that even Christianity arose from India, a blasphemous idea by liberals
like Voltaire Schlegel, etc., was perhaps a major damper, unacceptable to the Church
and also the race-conscious Christian elites. Linguistic studies of Arabic and Persian,
then, were the prime focus at almost all European universities, for plum jobs in col-
onies, especially at EIC in Bengal and India. Competition between Britain and France
in India was most intense at this time.
The role of Sir William Jones, the father of modern linguistics, was most
critical in this context to rebut the blasphemy and thwart the French and promote
British interests. Students of linguistics apparently see him as an Oxfordian estab-
lishing the science of philology. Sir William, though, had been viewed differently.
Some have called him an academic equivalent of Lord Clive, who captured Bengal
for the British; he has been called anti-Christian (as he did not believe in Christ’s mir-
acles), anti-Semitic (because of his belief that the Old Testament is mixed with fables
and forgery); and anti-Hindu (because he called Sanskrit foreign, and Indian myths he
called fables; and he linked the Hindus to Ham, son of Noah. Some people really
must have been offended because he refuted the French thesis of India as the cradle of
civilization and the homeland of whites.
His deliberation at Calcutta, as noted in chapter I, generated the basic concept
of IE/Aryan family and Semitic family purely on mythical or ethnic basis within the
church doctrine. Sir William was surely a great man and foremost linguist, knowing
dozens of languages, including Chinese. And like every great man, he too was often
misunderstood and misquoted. His narrative even about SKT (chapter I) which is the
foundation of IE family and the basis for Hindi’s classification as IA dialect has been
quoted inappropriately. According to his correct and authentic narrative, the Hindi
language antedates the arrival of SKT speakers in India. As noted in a comprehensive
364
Chapter XVII. Mesopotamian Realism and Re-Classification
volume on his life in the British library,408 Sir William believed that a pre-Aryan lan-
guage, “Hindi,” had existed. That is concordant with this book, as opposed to Hindu
mythology. His narrative is quite transparent; and it is clear that IE/ Aryan linguists
simply blot the first four and a half lines from this widely disseminated narrative.
Here is the full statement of Sir William Jones:
The civil history of the inhabitants of India, beyond the middle of the 19th cen-
tury from the present time, is enveloped in a cloud of fables. Facts, strengthened by
analogy, may lead us to suppose the existence of a primeval language in Upper
India, which may be called Hindi, and that the Sanscrit was introduced into it, by
conquerors from other kingdoms in some very remote age. The Sanscrit language,
whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek,
more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either; yet bearing to
both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs, and in the form of gram-
mar, than could possibly have been produced by accident, so strong indeed, that no
philologer could examine them all 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 Gothick and the Celtick,
though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit;
and the old Persian may be added to the same family.
The Deb-Nagari characters, in which the languages of India were originally
written, are adopted with little variation in form, in more than twenty kingdoms and
states, from the borders of Cashgar and Khoten, to the Southern extremity of the pen-
insula, and from the Indus to the river of Siam. That the square Chaldaic characters,
in which most Hebrew books are copied, were originally the same, or derived from
the same prototype, both with the Indian and Arabian characters, there can be little
doubt; and it is probable that the Phœnecian, from which the Greek and Roman
alphabets were formed, had a similar origin.”
His second paragraph is even more startling and is never quoted. It is amazing
that the man had a deep foresight, and knowledge of various scripts, including Deb-
nagari (a Bengali pronunciation at Calcutta) for DNS. As early as 1786, he was able
to talk about its genesis from PAS even prior to the decipherment of Asoka’s
inscription in 1837;409 Sir William, though, had seen an inscription from Delhi’s rock
edict. He was truthful and not playing to appease the pro SKT crowd all the way; but
left some room to draft SKT into Europe. A few years after his death (1789), at FWC,
the mythical status of SKT and its alleged progeny, Hindi, against his concept
(chapters IX, X), was set on track.
Besides his ideas on SKT, HIN, and DNS, Sir William410 thought Northern
Iran to be the home of Noah’s family, with Japheth as progenitor of North Europeans
and Ham’s children settling in Africa and India and even Central Asia with Chinese
descending from Indians and Shem settling around the Red Sea, all this taking place
between 1200-1600 BC within biblical timeline. Other anecdotes from him include
408. Lord Teignmouth (1804), p. 378.

409. R. K. Mookerji (1989), pp. 1-10.
410. Lord Teignmouth (1804), p. 379.
365
SKT being the possible parent of the Austro-Asiatic family of Indonesia and
Malaysia, SKT creating Persian, and a confession regarding Arabic as an ancient lan-
guage, which had pioneered musical poetry, but having no resemblance with SKT at
all either in grammar, structure, or vocabulary. Sir William very clearly played out his
ace here because SKT and Arabic have a definite resemblance—both have inflection,
three numbers, and SVO syntax. Additionally he conveniently ignored the shared
verbs, banana (to make), kat (cut), qat, chal (move), zal, vida (separate) and many
more. Either his knowledge of Arabic and SKT was just superficial, or he had a
mission—to draft Brahmins into the anti-Semitic, IE/Aryan club. The latter is more
likely as he had studied Arabic, Persian, and SKT very thoroughly and had translated
many books. He certainly was quite a patriotic man and had angered the French
scholar, A. Duperron,411 a scholar of French EIC.
17.2 MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION
As noted in chapter III the linguistic variety and literature was unknown to Sir
William, but he did venture an accurate guess about the script. By the time of its dis-
covery, initiated with the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone, and followed by full
exposure by 1870 by Rawlingson and others, the world was already fragmented under
religious and racial titles—Hindu India, Greek/Western or Indo-Aryan, Judeo-
Christian, Islamic, South Indian Dravidian, North Indian Aryan, African, Chinese,
etc. Mesopotamia, with its western extension (Egypt and Greece), northern (Turkey/
Central Asia), and eastern (Northwest India), apparently had not left any heirs to the
liking of racially fragmented scholars, no written evidence of Noah’s family, Aryan or
Dravidian tribes and/or language named after them. It was a rich heritage with no heir
or will. Various fictitious contestants, Aryans/IE and Semitic, have maintained a
lively argument to be its chief heir. Martin Bernal covers this voluminous argument
mainly focused on Eurocentric racism in his two volumes Black Athena. 412 In
essence, Mesopotamia has defied Aryanization or Semitization, and a full broad
exposure of what is known definitely had unsettled all the myths—Hellenic, Hebraic/
Aryan, Semitic, or Judeo-Christian, etc.
Religious concepts are really a very personal matter. Most of us bio-medical
and pure scientists reconcile with religious myths, i.e., the idea of God’s creation, the
Adam and Eve story, the flood, prophets, miracles, etc., individually with some meta-
physical personal faith, having no option. The documented history of man, evolution,
culture, linguistics, literature, physical science, and mathematics is independent of
religious faith, and should not be subverted to religious politics, but quite commonly
it is. Sam Huntington’s The Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of the World
Order413 is partly dependent on the linguistic paradigm, IE and Semitic language. In
411. Lord Teignmouth (1804), pp. 108-109.

412. Martin Bernal (1987), pp. 401-438.
413. Samuel P. Huntington (1996), pp. 59-64.
366
Mesopotamia, however, one finds evidence of secular humanism, globalism, and uni-
versalism in its science and literature (chapter’s I-III).
This vast civilization with its evolving phonetics, linguistics, and literature
(chap III-IV), was neither Semitic nor Aryan, nor Dravidian, nor Turkish. It was poly-
glottic, interactive and a common core culture, authored by decendents of African
migrants settled there. William Durant had recorded its hybrid feature as early as
1954: “We are to vision the vast area as a scene of ethnic diversity and flux, in which
now the IE, now the Semitic stock, for a time prevailed, but only to take on the
general cultural character of the whole.” Perhaps the most objective among the world
class historians,414 he would have readily substituted the term IE and Semitic by
Adam # 4 and 5 and Eve G, H, etc., had he known (then unknown) the views of gene-
ticians about the shared DNA or genes of the people of Greater Mesopotamia, who
later became differentiated as Indians, Arabs, and Europeans, and further sub-divided
along racial and religious lines.
Historians and linguists can only be objective by getting above their own per-
sonal bias. Such historians are, of course, rare. Prior to William Durant, back in the
14th century, IBN Khuldun415 perhaps is a most shining example and considered the
father of modern history. He wrote:
Prejudice and partisanship obscure the critical faculty and preclude critical
investigation. The result is falsehood, which is accepted and transmitted.
Ibn Khuldun wrote history for history, not to glorify any particular ideology or
group. Against genealogy and recognizing the divine equality of all men, he rejected
the color coding of Noah’s family as perceived by Sir William and Shlegel. He had
very explicitly explained the role of climate zones, geographic latitudes on human
physical features, and negated the concept of “Black Ham.”416
Modern history though continues to be dominated by racism. As late as the
1920s, at the time of the formation of the League of Nations led by the USA, the
Chinese and Japanese had requested the inclusion of a statement of “racial equality of
all men.” It was refused, and the Chinese did not sign it.417 Racial jealousy has down-
played even the scientific contribution of other races, e.g., the Chinese discovery of
blood circulation, and the theory of evolution (700 BC), also by Chinese, is credited
to Darwin.418 The contribution of Arab linguists, reviewed earlier, is as profuse but
remains unknown. Some of the Arab sciences have even reappeared as European
originals. One example of this is the discovery of pulmonary circulation by IBN Nafis
and attributed to William Harvey.419 As is well known, Mesopotamian sciences were
relabeled as Greek and/or Hindu, due to the disappearance of cuneiform and despite
414. William Durant (1954), p. 291.

415. N. J. Dawood (1989), p. 35.
416. N. J. Dawood (1989), pp. 58-62.
417. J. L. Nehru (1942/1960), p. 247.
418. J. L. Nehru (1942/1960), pp. 165-170.
419. Soubani A. Khan (1995), pp. 185-186.
367
the written testimony of several Greek scholars, such as Pythagoras and Herodotus,
who were obviously ignored.
There is, of course, now full recognition of Mesopotamia in the West, but not in
India, because of the persistent dominance of religious mythology, Indo-centrism,
and /or political Aryanism propagated in the West. A quotation from a recent
handbook on Hinduism420 runs as follows: “Aryans were people of European origin
and moved eastwards into Iran and India.” Despite the acknowledgment that German
Aryanism and hypothetical PIE was a hoax, Indo-Europeanism remains alive and
underscores the need for a race- and myth-free linguistic classification incorporating
Mesopotamian linguistics, the ultimate resource.
17.3 LINGUISTIC ISSUES AND RECLASSIFICATION
Our re-classification takes into account the most current thinking that Middle
East farmers disseminated IE, DR, and other languages, and generated some locally.
It takes into account the grammar, syntax, and documented vocabulary in modern lan-
guages and Mesopotamian fossils, and focuses only on geographical proximities in
developing families or super families. Ignoring all religion and racial epithets, labels,
or consideration, we must identify some issues which inflicted the old classifiers and
try to rebut and troubleshoot them.
17.3.1 Hypothetical Phonemes of PIE
It is obvious that PIE phonemes were a replica of SKT and included aspirants
ph, th, and kh, etc., alien in European languages, and consonant clusters tr, pr, etc., to
perhaps match the richness in Arabic/Hebrew phonemes (chapter II). Mesopotamia
(chapter III) revealed the evolution of phonemes from 12-18 consonants and 5
vowels. It is understood that evolution generated a more complex society and, conse-
quently, more phonemes. The mythical theory of the reverse evolution or degener-
ation of rich languages, SKT/HEB/PIE, to an inferior daughter lacks any common
sense.
17.3.2 Features of IE and Semitic
The only common feature of IE, much-prided consonant clusters, as discussed,

are nonspecific; otherwise IE is a mixture of inflected Gothic, SKT, Latin, etc., and
agglutinating Celtic and Armenian. The hypothesis, that a highly inflected one will
degenerate into an agglutinating and then to an isolating one, has never been docu-
mented. And no written material on any, be it Celtic, German, or English, exists prior
to 300-400 C.E. How can one presume that one daughter of PIE Celtic will be agglu-
tinating and the other Latin, i.e., inflected? With the lost credibility of PIE, the whole
family loses its basic foundation. Celtic is now seen as the oldest substrate in Europe
420. VP (Hemant Kanitkar and W Owen p. 160.
368
as Dravidian is in India. As formulated for Urdu, English must have evolved by

cumulative evolution and not by degeneration, i.e., from Pictic > Celtic, Latin,
French, German, Anglo-Saxon.
It is easy to understand and be misled by the concept of degeneration based on
what we discussed in the SKT/PKT situation (chapter V). Let us say that after some
4000 years use of Celtic vocabulary a new arrival, Latin, interacts, absorbs,
exchanges, grows, and keeps its grammar intact (a la Arabic and SKT), makes
numerous conjugated words from basic Celtic verbs, e.g., de or do (give), and also
becomes dominant over the religious and cultural life of Europe (a la Arabic and
SKT) during the next 2000 years, a rich hybrid is a natural outcome. English, French,
and Italian, etc., arose in this manner a la PKT or Urdu/Hindi, etc. And because of a
large pool of shared vocabulary between the hybrid, e.g., English, French, etc., agglu-
tinated Celtic and inflected Latin, it is impossible to establish as to which came first
or which one is the real mother or daughter or oldest author of a given word (s). For
the verb de/do (give), it is the Middle East as noted before.
The fundamental role of Celtic, (similar to DR/SKT), which had provided vital
loans to Latin, Gothic, etc., was ignored. Celtic in the PIE tree is a separate daughter,
a basic error. Thus, anybody classifying language in the 19th century can be easily
misled to assume Latin as the mother of Italian, French, and Spanish, or Gothic of
English and German, and SKT of Hindi and DR, too, because of shared loans. The
linguistic classifier, mostly Catholic priest or scholars, had assumed that Latin, pre-
sumably superior due to its scriptural holiness and high inflectional quality, was the
mother of its (daughter) dialects borne out of degenerated or corrupted Latin. Celtic
speakers (Breton in France, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish) segregated and marginalized
(like Dravidian and Munda speakers of India) in pockets, but strongly religious and
almost 100% illiterate (in 18th-19th centuries) simply followed the church doctrine of
Latin, just the same way SKT’s myth became rooted in India. That languages evolve
by cumulative evolution is pretty much established, and not by degeneration of
inflected grammar. Vocabularies change and get exchanged easily, and grammar and,
perhaps, syntax as discussed earlier (chapter II) are the main distinctive features of a
language. The classification based entirely on vocabulary, “birds in flight,” had no
sound basis. And equating some 5000-7000-year-old Celtic with younger ones (about
3000 years old) Latin, Gothic, Greek, Persian, and SKT (all inflected), was an
obvious error.
Semitic, as is well known, uses a 3-consonant system, which is also not strictly
specific and seen also among IE members. In Mesopotamia all these features, in fact,
were widely spread out and freely exchanged. The exchange included inflection,
syntax, three numbers, including a dual, and 2-3 genders, beside the vocabulary.
Common scripts of this entire region played their own hybridizing role in the
exchange process.
17.3.3 Degeneration and Glotto Chronology
The very basis of glotto chronology as noted in chapter II are two dogmas: one,
that certain word pairs or cognates in two members of a family really belong to them;
369
two, the rate of loss of words over time can put the two away from each other. The
rate is a dogma that presumes a constant loss of 20% per 1000 years. Both dogmas
have been fully discredited and especially so by the fossil languages, e.g., the entire
Sumerian vocabulary was engulfed by Akkadian within 1000-2000 years and also
passed on to others. One cannot call Sumerian words rab (chief) alla (God) Semitic,
even if we believe that ‘Semitic’ is a reality. The same thing happened with Elamite
vocabulary, later engulfed by Old Persian within a few centuries. We see in these
examples clear reason for not characterizing vocabulary as Semitic, non-Semitic, etc.
Vocabulary surely changes and is exchanged at variable rates, mainly driven by cul-
tural and political factors. “Rate dogma,” apparently, has been discredited by lin-
guists. First, dogma is most relevant. As noted earlier (chapters II-V) hundreds of
words on IE were drafted as IE as a dogma, e.g., Dravidian and Austric Munda words
in SKT were presumed as SKT and also Persian. These Dravidian words from DED
of Prof. Emeneau of California are purely Dravidian, but IE apologists still continue
to promote them as IE/SKT, especially in India and the West.
In the West the process lives on actively. One example is worth citing. Prof.
Harmatta,421 in his perspective on the degeneration of PIE towards PII>PIR and
loans of PIR into Finnish-Hungarian, uses these timelines. Many words cited by him
as PII, PIR, or SKT end up in either Dravidian or into a dead end, Sumerian, which he
conveniently ignores. Some of his cited words presumed to be Persian and/or SKT
are medu (honey), manus (man), kar (do, work), meksi (bee), ghora (horse) are
attested Dravidian, and several others, such as ab (water), gu (cow), septa (seven),
aqua (water), and aswa (horse), do not belong to hypothetical PIE, PII, etc., but to
historical Sumerian and other fossils, as discussed earlier. He provides interesting
examples of the degeneration of phonemes from PIE to Old Persian and SKT.
According to one such example, the phonemes ph, bh, and gh of PIE (all hypo-
thetical) degenerated to p, b, and gw in Persian, but stayed in SKT, this happening
some 5000 years ago. We know PIE was created from SKT and not the other way
around, and Persian and SKT both emerged from Mesopotamia (chapter III-VI),
where compound phonemes were mostly absent. This type of scholarship in a
UNESCO publication perpetuates the IE/Aryan myth; obviously there were never any
such entities PIE, PII, PIR, or other protos.
The glotto chronologists and reconstructionists, maintaining the boundaries of
linguistic families, tend the same tracks, then make protos of many of these and then
sieve the hypothetical vocabularies through glotto chronology to determine the time-
lines. We have noticed this in the works of Dr. McAlpine on Proto Elamite, Proto
Dravidian, Proto-Elamo, and Dravidian. These reconstructions are useful in their own
way, romanticizing in the absence of realities. Harmatta and some other IE enthu-
siasts still believe in the Aryan homeland theory now supposedly in Ukraine through
Kurgan or Gurgan hypothesis. Gur, or gor is a Persian-Dravidian word for grave, or
burial pit. As a Russian word it symbolizes the burial pit/mounds of presumed PIE-
speaking Aryan folks who invaded Western Europe, Iran, and India for spreading
421. A. H. Dani and V. M. Masson (1992), pp. 357-378.
370
PIE/IE languages. This old theory of Gambutas’ is clearly discredited by Mesopot-

amian linguistics. Ruhlen’s review,422,423 against Kurgan theory is convincing and
also confirmed by reviews in Science and Nature, as reported in the New York Times.
The most powerful argument against all this is how the richest phonemes of PIE,
SKT, or Semitic Arabic/HEB were reduced to 12-18 only, and why.
17.4 TATSAM AND TAD-BHAV: DILEMMA/DECEPTIONS
This issue, which is detailed in chapters IV-V-VI, concerns the growth of a lan-
guage by acquisition of a word and its multiplication through inflected grammar, as
exemplified by SKT and Arabic. With the loss of evidence of the original, some of
these words were assumed as SKT and Arabic. For example, the Latin verb dedi
(give), long presumed as SKT had come into SKT via Dravidian from Sumerian and
Elamite (table 17.1) and still listed as SKT “Tatsam” or pure/original and the word
rab (God) or master (chief or boss) long presumed as Semitic, Arabic, and Hebrew, is
an acquisition from Sumerian. There are numerous examples that may run into
several hundreds. Thus the families based on these loans are really “houses built on
sand.” SKT, Arabic, and HEB are hybrids from loans and not “uncreated” pure. In
fact many Dravidian and Munda loans (chapter IV) were considered as “tat bhav,” or
sometimes semi-Tatsam or even outright tatsams, i.e., calna (move), dene (give). The
SKT dictionary of Monier Williams and others do not identify the sources, e.g., water
word, Jal or nir, nagar (city), parh (read), brahman (priest), mandir (temple), manush
(man), etc. are from Dravidian and are even considered as Tatsam. Because of
holiness and mythical status, SKT is usually not subjected to analysis by Indian
scholars, but the point to emphasize is that many such SKT words utilized to create
the IE family were loan acquisitions, a major dilemma discrediting the old classifi-
cation.
As a matter of fact these revelations about SKT has been buried in Prof. Chat-
terji’s doctoral thesis of University of London (1921), published later as A History of
Bengali Language. According to him, some 2000 verb roots in 1887 were presumed
to be SKT by German linguists.424 The number dropped to about 500 in Vedic and
SKT literature and is inclusive of acquisitions from others and termed “tatsam,” or
“semi-tatsam.” He adds that about 200 words originally of Vedic, in fact, disappeared
in regular SKT. These perhaps include Sumerian ab (water), udakum (water),
karmela (camel), anal (fire), Arabic alnar or nar, rooted in Mesopotamia. The issue
of a conjugated form derived from a loan is philosophical and political, e.g., Sum-
erian rab (chief) is Sumerian and rabbi (my lord) its Arabic conjugated form may or
may not be called Sumerian. These numerous examples in SKT and Latin clarify the
issue that creating families/super families based on shared vocabulary or cognates has
not been scientific.

424. S. K. Chatterji (1972), pp. 870-871.
371
17.5 MESOPOTAMIA ANCIENT FAMILY (MAF)
MAF may be considered a family itself, with diverse type of grammar syntax,
gender, number, and a large shared vocabulary that existed from 4000 BC to 600 BC
prior to the appearance of new mythologies, Greek, Jewish, Persian, or Hindu/Bud-
dhist. These fossil languages, (chapter III-IV), really shared an enormous vocabulary,
much more than was the basis for IE family. MAF is much more justifiable than IE
and is the source of the modern families.
The shared vocabulary of MAF can be quiet large, if one is driven to discovery.
This author has compiled a modest sample of some fifty words (table 17.1A, 1B) and
an additional ten (table 17.2) representing the number. The major emphasis in the
tables is to identify the oldest forms and their sources, and their current acquisition/
usage in various languages, including Semitic, DR, IE, and others. These shared
words link the three families, DR, IE and Semitic, belonging to Middle East farmers.
Many other words common to the three families have been already reviewed in
chapters III and IV under Sumerian Elamite, Akkadian, and Hittite, namely, mother
(am/um, mother), father (apa), some pronouns, and many others. Besides these, the
three families share the names of the alphabet, though not always the meaning or
sense of the terms (chapter XVI). Between these and those in the tables, essentially
100 words from this ancient linguistic melting pot are covered.
The first seventeen in table 17.1A, B represent some everyday use verbs, most
of them from Sumerian, but widely spread, e.g., dena (give), cut, sit, elevate. English
dictionaries, e.g., Webster, would like to link them up to Gothic, Latin, and SKT. For
example, do or kar, with a sense of affecting task or chor, appears to be a cognate of
Latin carrius/karrius,carry/karry,kar. Interestingly the two “eat” words of MAF, Sum-
erian ku, akul and Hitt et, at, cover almost all of Eurasia, except China. The word for
“sing,” kant, or chant, with K/G switch, is linked with Arabic but has no trace in the
fossils. This is also true for “grate” and “chop,” where the oldest link is found with
the Austric Munda word, kerat. Besides the verbs, we see other varieties; three water
words cover a large tract and aqua covers all continents according to Ruhlen: the two
earth words both Sumerian KI, KIA with K/G switch becomes G1, gea of Greek and
ersetu > earth of English, Arabic. Others such as house, bar, cave have already been
discussed. The word for grave/gor as in kur gan is seen also in DR guri/kuri. The
word for door the Greek word delta gives us the name of the letter D (chapter XVI).
Two words for red, lal and sandur, both Sumerian, are current in Urdu/Hind. Pink and
brown, almost universal words, also come from MAF. The word alba (white) pro-
vides numerous derivatives: Albania, Albion (Scotland), Lebanon, and albinism, etc.
Three animal names, horse, cow, camel, are almost universal: Sumerian gud
(bull) became “cow”, but the actual word for cow, av, was absorbed in Dravidian
Telugo. Sumerian’s sisu (horse), passionately claimed both as IE and Semitic, is
neither. A basic appliance, “axe”, also a shared name, palekus, in Greek and SKT,
comes from Akkadian.
372
Table XVII.1A
Vocabulary of Middle East Farmers (IE, SEM, SUM and DR, etc.)
LATIN/
MEANING OLDEST FORM (SOURCE) SEMI ARAB DRAV SKT PERS
GR
1. give dena (SUM,ELAM,AKK) - dena ditta dadan dedd,devo
na
2. sit, rest sittu (SUM/ASY) - - no-sad siesta
sistan
3. sing ghunna (ARAB) ghunna - gana ghunna kant
4. cut/kati Kud (SUM) qit kattu kat kat cotre
5. elevate elu (SUM/ASY) elu,ilu,ala eru - ala elevate

kara-
6. grate,cho kerat (A-M) khirat - khiras grate
patra
7. separate Vida (AKK/ASY) al-vida bidu vida bida weed out
8. poke (a hole) pu, poku, po (SUM,ASY) fu/pu (mouth) poke bhok - -
9. do, work kar,kardu (SUM/AKK) qardu kar kartam kardan carrius
10. make,build Bau (SUM/AKK) banana vanai banana banana -
11. move, roll cel/zel (ELAM/ARAB) zal cal cal calidan -
12. Narrate bayan (ARAB) bayan vayanam vayanam bayan -

13. salute (pray,
salu (ASY) salah - - salat salutare
wish)
14. eat ku,akul (SUM,AKK) aku kanam khadit khurd -
15. eat at,et (HITT) - - atti - eat,edei
16. excell, purify zukka (ELAM) zaka cokham cokha zakat -
17. go, move, send pa-imi (HITT) - - emi paiman emit,ei-mi
18. water, drink ab,ma (SUM) ma - av ab -
19. water water (HITT) - - - - -
20. water aqwa (HITT) - - - - aqua
21. earth, land ki,gi,kia (SUM) - - - - gea
22. earth, land ersetu (SUM/ASY) earz - - earz -
23. river,canal naru (AKK) naher nari, nagori nari naher -
24. grave Gor (DR/PER) - guri, kuri - gor -
25. life si (SUM) - - jive zindigi -
26. house Gar (SUM) - garh ghare gar -
HM =Hurrian-Mitanni, AM=Austric-Munda.
373
Table XVII.1B
Vocabulary of Middle East Farmers (IE,SEM,SUM and DR ETC)
OLDEST FORM SEMI LATIN/
MEANING DRAV SKT PERS
(SOURCE) ARAB GR
27. outside bar (SUM) berber - baher baher barbaru
28. door, entrance daltu (SUM,ASY) delet (heb) - dwar dar -
29. cave kaf (ASY,ARAM) kaf kevi,gavi gupha kaf cava

alpha,laban (HITT, SEM,
30. white laban,lavan - - - albus
ARAM)
31. red laarsa (SUM) - - - laala -
32. red vermilion sandu (SUM) - - sandur - -
33. pink pingala (H-M ) - - patla - pink
34. brown babbru (H-M ) - por bhru bora brown

jamel,came
35. camel jamel (ARAM) - karmela - camleus
l
36. cow gu (bull) (SUM) - godu gau goa cow
37. cow ab (SUM) - avu - - -
38. horse sisu (SUM,ASY) hesa,sus - aswa aspa aswa
39. horse ghor (PER,DR) - ghor ghotaka ghor -
40. no, not nu (SUM) na-er - nahi na nou
41. in ina (SUM/ASY) - - ander andar in
42. neck/throat gloh (DR,AM) - ganta-lu kantha gala gullet
43. fire agnis (HITT) - - agni - ignitus
44. fire pahwar (HITT) - - vhihu - pur

mattu
45. honey-sweet melit (HITT) - madhu - mel
(sweet)
46. wine wiana (HITT, ARAM) woine (heb) - - - wine
47. star sittar asthar (HITT/AKK) akhtar - tara sitara stella
48. bird pera (HITT) - paravai - parind -
49. bird essuru (SUM,AKK) usfur - - - olseau

mara-
50. dead mitu (SUM) maut mritu maut mort
nam
51. roadway sila (SUM) silsila sal sarrih - -
52. ax pilaku (AKK) faausu - parasu - palekus

HM =Hurrian-Mittani
374
Table XVII.2
Shared Numerals in IE, Semitic, Dravidian and Sumerian
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SUM/AKK isten sina salsu rebu hamsu sessum* sebet* sammu tisu esrum
SUM (old) desh min pesh lim i i-ash i-min i-us l-l -
ARABIC ahad sana salas arba khams set sebt saman tesa ashr
edu esna
PERSIAN yak* du* sih cahar * panj* shash haft hasht* nuh* dahu*
ki*
SANSKRIT eka* dua tryas* catur* panca* sat sapta astau nava dasa
URDU/HINDI ki* do teen car panc cheh sat ath nav das
CELTIC oen dau tries cethir coic se secht ocht noi deici
ENGLISH one two three four five six seven eight nine ten
O. GERMAN aine duo thrija fidwor fimf sains sibum ahtua niun taihui
LATIN unus duo tres quatt-uor quinque sex septum octo novem decem
SPANISH uno dos tres quatro sinquo sej siete ochos nueve dies
GREEK else duo tries tettares penta heks hepta okto ennea deka
PIE oino dwo trei kwet-ker penke-we sweks sept oktu nwen dekm
DRAVIDIAN onnu* irartu munro nal singi* saj eru ot* onpatu pattu
ond rantu munu nanku saik sajgi edu ettu* tomid paktu
DR-
OLDEST IE HITT HITT PERS PERS- SUM SUM PERS PERS PERS
ELAM-
(SOURCES) him PERS PERS (HITT) HITT DR SEM SEM DR HITT HITT
(HM = Hurrian-Mittani) (DR=Dravidian) (DR DED # for 1,5,6,8, - 990, 2825, 2485, 784 respectively)
* oldest name/source
375
Camel, also in SKT and Latin, provides the letter name J (jamal) and Arabic
jeem, also pronounced as gamal or kamal (chapter XVI). Of the two fire words in
MAF both are retained in SKT, but agni is in vogue and in Europe both are used.
“Honey” or the word for “sweet,” melit, connects the three families and provides the
popular Urdu word mitha (sweet). Finally the word for “no,” and maut (death), in
various forms, cover the three families worldwide. Updated dictionaries425,426on
MAF members can really surprise anyone. There is mammi, a Sumerian spin from
um/am to mean mother of Gods, and Hittite, tati (father) perhaps a cognate of dady
with d/t switch. Sumerian, Ti, TiiT and Titaan (life), a title for their own Noah
Napistum (alive in heaven) of Gilgamesh epic (chapter III) seem to be a clear loan
into Greek epic Titans. One Sumerian word, sila (road), has a Dravidian cognate, sal
(#51 table 17.1) in Dravidian Kannada and in SKT and, with an l/r switch, perhaps
created sarak (road) in Urdu-Hindi. Silsila, or vasila, in Arabic, gives the same sense,
“path, resource, avenue, etc.”
This author, not a linguist, is amazed as to how the linguists can ignore these
written words in favor of creating elusive protos. One powerful item which sup-
posedly binds IE family members is the numbers game, which hypothetically had
originated in Germany’s PIE. As tabulated (17.2) the ten numbers are really part of
the MAF. The table lists three sets of numbers from IE, DR, and Semitic, and also
from hypothetical PIE and venerable Sumerian, which, incidentally, had shared
Akkadian terms both ways. As this table indicates, the old name/form and oldest IE
source is listed in the bottom line. Sum/Akk really provides the ten names to Semitic,
Arabic, and Hebrew, but the Sumerian/Akkadian number six covers IE’s whole
group, including DR, and the number seven all except DR. Hittite (of MAF) obvi-
ously provides 6 of the 10 IE names. Three numbers are really mind-boggling as to
their origin. Of the two names for the number “one” in IE, the term that is most
common and that is shared with DR is onna/ond. How and where the sharing
occurred is hard to ascertain, but DR is a much older language. The second term is
ekum, a loan from Hurrian Mitanni, and it is used in IE Persian and Sanskrit. DR also
seems to be the source for IE word for “eight”: ot, ettu. “Five,” too, is intriguing.
Hittite Panza covers Greek, Persian, and Sanskrit, but Latin sinquo has a Dravidian
cognate, singi. (The words “four” and “five” of English/German remain an enigma.)
MAF essentially refutes all political and/or religious racism. There is no identi-
fiable entity “Semitic” or PIE/Aryan numbers and, of course, race. Dravidian
numbers’ names seem to be quiet independent except the shared # 1, 5, 6, and 8. Dra-
vidian and Celtic were among the oldest farmers group from the Middle East and
were replaced by later arrivals, SKT and Latin. Both Celtic and DR and their
common ancestors had shared cognates for #1, (one), # five (coic/saik), #6 (sie/saj),
and #8 (ocht/ot, etta) : and had moved out to their new homelands. They as noted
before (chapter III-IV) had perhaps shared the heliothic cultural symbol: the swastika.
Both languages are agglutinating in type. DR had left the Middle East and were
farming in Pakistan about 8000 BC: while the oldest farmers in Catal Hyuk (Turkey)
425. Sumerian Dictionary (2004).

426. Hittite Dictionary (2004).
376
about the same time might have been Proto Dravidians’ or Proto Celt, or Celt, or their
common ancestors, Proto Hittite, etc., who took another 4000 years to reach England
(3000 BC) as noted before (chapter III-IV); they apparently left their evidence in
MAF.
17.6 NEW CLASSIFICATION
The new classification factors in the realities of MAF and the migration of lin-
guistic groups from West Asia, with specific grammar, which they had held on to
while absorbing/exchanging loans to build their language, a process well known and
transparent everywhere in Arabic, Persian, and SKT. Also the idea of linguistic
cyclical evolution from isolating>agglutinating>inflection>degeneration is not fac-
tored because the entire history of MAF is just about 6000 years or even less and
reveals no grammar cycles, but an accumulation, exchange, growth, and persistence
of grammar types.
MAF, a late creature of farmers, perhaps had a purely agglutinating phase in the
pre-neolithic era (15,000-20,000 years ago) or both agglutinating and inflection
phase. But most likely the earliest farmers’ speech was of agglutinative type, a docu-
mented feature in the MAF area and beyond. Outside the MAF area we can visualize
grammar phases: the agglutinating phase had Celtic, Finnish-Ugaric, Caucasian, Dra-
vidian, Turkish-Altaic, Armenian, etc, perhaps right up to 2000 BC. In Europe and
India we find evidence in Celtic, Dravidian, and others of some shared vocabulary
(name of #’s 1, 5, 6, and 8). The inflection phase/feature in MAF (visible ~3000 BC)
in Akkadian and later (~1500 BC) in Hittite got into the more recent migrants, Latin,
Gothic, Greek, SKT, and Persian between (3000 BC- 800 BC). The new speakers bor-
rowed and exchanged vocabulary with locals, while both protecting their grammar.
English, a continuation from the pre-Celtic phase to the Celtic phase, borrowed
vocabulary plus some element of grammar, exactly same phenomenon as we have
witnessed through Urdu’s story via accumulation; grammars do not degenerate
usually. Latin, Greek, and Arabic kept their inflection. SKT got saturated and froze,
as did Latin. Celtic and DR and their agglutinating cousins in Europe thrive even
today. English and Urdu-Hindi thus are cumulating hybrids and not a degenerating
version of some hocus-pocus PIE, through its invisible daughters.
In the new classification, we avoid using mythical racial terms, Shem-Semitic,
Japhetic Aryan (IE), Ham-Hametic (black), and Dravidian, etc., obviously because
they have no documented legitimacy. We also sacrifice and divide the IE into local
SKT, Persian, and European languages, as they had existed before William Jones
(18th century). In sacrificing “Aryan” it is recognized that the term (chapter IV-V)
had implied an adjective “noble,” and not a race. The Aryans of Rig Veda apparently
did not have a racial genealogy and theirs was an aggressive, proselytizing, religious,
linguistic community, mobile and with no land affiliation. After moving to the U.P.
area, they declare their older home (Northwest) as the non-Aryan/Maleccha area.
While adopting local people, they transfer “Aryan” title to them and also they
377
withdraw the Aryan title from their own racial kin when they abandon Aryan ways, or
Dharma/religion. The term, “Aryan,” has been exploited out of context, especially by
Europeans.
The new classification is focused on grammar type, syntax, and geographical
tract. Racial titles, if used, are strictly meant for language type. Three giant families
are visualized here. “A” covers the entire Euro-Asiatic land mass, inclusive of Pacific
Islands and North Africa; “B,” the African family, covers sub-Saharan languages; and
“C” is the American Indian family. The giant group A is further divided by a hori-
zontal line along the Caspian about 10-20 degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer, into
a North and South, which are further divided vertically into western, eastern, and
central linguistic areas as follows.
17.6.1 The New Classification: Three Grand Super-Families
A. Grand Euro Asiatic family (GEAS)

I. North Euro-Asiatic (NEAS)
II. South Euro-Asiatic (SEAS)
This can be also called Middle East Indo-Asiatic or Meindo-Asiatic [MEIA]
B. African (Sub-Saharan)
Bantu
Nilo Saharan
Zulu
Congo, etc
C. American Indian427
12 families, per Merritt Ruhlen
The first of the three Grand Super-families and its regional divisions are further
divided, based on grammar.
A. Grand Euro Asiatic family (GEAS)

I. North Euro-Asiatic (NEAS)
a. Western NEAS (3 types)
1. Agglutinating: Basque; Celtic-Welsh, Irish, Breton, Scottish;
(Etruscan)
2. Inflected: Latin; Gothic
3. Hybrids: English, German, Swedish; Italian, Spanish, French,
Portuguese, etc.
b. Central NEAS (3 types)

1. Agglutinating: Turkish-Uralic family; Finnish-Ugric family;
(Cretan); Caucasian-Chechen, Georgian, Armenian, etc.
378
2. Inflected: (Hittite); Greek

3. Hybrids: Slavic group—Russian, Polish, etc.; Albanian
c. Eastern NEAS (3 types)

1. Isolating: Chinese; Tibetan, Burmese; Siamese (Thai)
2. Isolating with some agglutinating: Austro-Asiatic family
3. Agglutinating: Korean; Japanese; Mongolian; Alaskan (native
people)
II. Middle East-Indo Asiatic (Meindoasiatic), (MEIA)

a. Western MEIA
Fully inflected: Arabic, Hebrew (AKK, ARAM)
Partially inflected: Persian; (HITT)
Agglutinating: (SUM, ELAM, HUR)
b. Eastern MEIA
1. Isolating with or without agglutination: Austro-Asiatic; Malaysian;
Indonesian
c. Central MEIA (can be paraphrased as HINDUSTANI SOUTH ASIAN
(SAH). Amixed group.
1. Isolating with some agglutination: Munda; Santhali, Khasi, Svara
2. Inflected: Vedic-SKT
3. Agglutinating (Dravidian group): Tamil, Telegu, etc.
4. Super Hybrid
(a) Eastern group (SOV syntax): Bengali, Assami, Oriya
(b) Extreme west: Pushtu, Baluchi
(c) Northwest (SOV type): Sindhi, Panjabi; SVO type - Kashmir
(d) Southwest: Gujati (SOV), Marathi (SOV)
(e) North Central (SOV type): Urdu/Hindi
This classification, admittedly an amateurish attempt by a non-linguist, may

not be the best solution to weed out linguistic racism but it does integrate the essential
ideas. Sacrificing the IE family may not be to the liking of the IE linguist. Ruhlen has
been one of its foremost critics. He has this to say (as mentioned earlier): “Evidence
from outside linguistics and evidence from earlier comparative linguists that has been
swept under the rug for a century is leading scholars toward a more complete picture
of human pre-history than we had previously anticipated. Within the perspective of
this emerging synthesis, the antiquated ideas of Indo-Europeanists and their followers
persist as no more than a historical curiosity, one that, from the point of linguistic tax-
onomy, has led nowhere; and it is unlikely that the Indo-Europeanists will ever again
command the field of historical linguistics as their own personal fiefdom.”
Ruhlen’s major focus, making super families, is through cognates, e.g.,
showing aqua (water) is universal, inclusive of African languages. But his approach
to lump things together and generate super families based on vocabulary confirms the
individuality of IE, Semitic, etc.; the unsatisfactory concept of race is allowed to
persist. As a matter of fact, “Lumping” via cognates, or a commonality of words,
379
among IE, Finno-Ugric, and Turkish, had been noted soon after the classification, (as
early as 1900) by Henry Sweet.428 Ruhlen thus is on the same page as Sir Williams,
utilizing cognates. Shared vocabulary or cognates as noted in MAF should be viewed
as birds in flight, which had circulated among all families, irrespective of grammar.
The grammars had their own specific approach towards a given word, as discussed
earlier (chapter II). For example, the Sumerian word rab (chief) or dena (give) would
create numerous words (chapter I and II) through inflection, but only a few by agglu-
tination. In this particular example we know the ultimate source. But using Ruhlen’s
approach, dena (give) will be called a cognate between SKT, Latin of IE, and Dra-
vidian. This does not pinpoint a source and also consolidates racial groups. Evidently,
the major objectives of linguists like Ruhlen, however, include academic truth,
freedom from racism, and a global perspective.
The new classification, implying similar objectives, makes sense and sounds
reasonable and focused solely on linguistic pattern and grammar, i.e., how the words
can grow and multiply from simple monosyllabism (agglutinating, inflection) to
polysyllabism in speech and passed on from parents to offspring. The evolution of
linguistics is based on the origin of speech, and of culture, its diffusion. The old clas-
sification, based on race and mythical dogma, had its own merits, but was politically
exploited. And the various “lumping” attempts super families, of Greenberg and/or
Russians Nostratic represents laudable steps towards a broader consensus or political
peace. In essence they provide a scheme as to when and how, for example, the white
man and his IE cousins got separated from lesser white Semitic Arab/Jew and these
together as brothers had split off from earlier ancestors. This scheme discards poly-
genesis but maintains various racial/religion and/or political entities; logically, it is
wrong because of two wrong assumptions: 1) it is concordant with human and/or bio-
logical evolution and 2) a group, or race, and its speech represents an “indivisible bio-
logical pair or entity” and had branched off from some such earlier entities. It
excludes the fact that people exchange their languages. A simple example explains it
all: If one attempts to characterize, say, the English language spoken in U.S.A. by the
two well-known ethnic groups, African and Indian, with absolutely no knowledge of
evolution of man and his language, it will be easy to conclude that the two evolved
from a common ancestor who spoke English. Language and people have moved a lot,
and have exchanged languages from the earliest time. Classification of languages on
biological criteria is not specific.
The obvious error in the old classification is to put together all languages of
physically similar-looking groups sharing the same habitat/land tract in one family,
e.g., IE, Celtic (agglutinative) and Latin (inflected). It did not look wrong at all, but
not any different than putting the fish and the whale (mammal) into one family, or the
bird and the bat (mammal) together, because of shared habitat. One can easily make
similar IE type error elsewhere, putting Chinese Mandarin and Austric-Munda type
(Taiwanese) in a biological Chinese family. Biological and speech evolution are dis-
tinct processes; mother/daughter hierarchy does not exist in language as is transparent
428. Henry Sweet (1900) in S. K. Chatterji (1972), p. 23.
380
from 6000 years of record. However, grammar may have some significance to define
the older ancestors; Latin, Arabic, Gothic, and SKT speakers might have shared
habit/culture and also DNA, as noted by geneticists.
Grammars, the ultimate essence, don’t usually mix, like oil and water. Even
with prolonged vigorous blending they remain apart; vigorous blending (religion/
secular forces) of some thousand (s) years were apparently not enough to merge agglu-
tination and inflection in our time, e.g., Celtic/Latin, Turkish/Arabic, or DR/SKT, and
Sumerian/AKK at the dawn of our history. Shaking did help in exchange of externals
only loose garments on the body, or vocabulary. The theme to free up languages from
religion as well as racial biology has been explored through the study of one particular
language, Urdu/Hindi. This idea gets some further consideration in the discussion on
the Meindo-Asiatic super family, of which Urdu/Hindi is a finished product.
17.7 MEINDO-ASIATIC (MEIA) SUPER FAMILY

The shared pool of vocabulary and linguistic features in MAF noted above has
directly impacted the eastern end of Mesopotamia. Besides the linguistic feature, the
script (Chapter XVI) of MAF had influenced the entire tract the same way as the
western linguistic system of Europe. The western piece of MEIA consists of two
main members, Arabic and Persian, plus others, classified as Semitics, Berber,
Hebrew, etc., or Persian dialects, e.g., Dari. As noted, the eastern branch or South
East Asian group consists of the isolating type, Austro-Asiatic, interfacing Tibeto
Burmese and Chinese in the north. The central piece, the largest one, paraphrased
south Asian or HINDUSTANI (INDIAN) group, features a mixed grammar with
well-known entities, agglutinating (DR), isolating (Munda), and inflected SKT. This
includes a super hybrid group famous as NIA dialects consisting of Urdu/Hindi and
others with SOV syntax, except Kashmiri with SVO type.
17.7.1 MEIA Cultural Dimension
Populated by wheat/barley farmers of the west, and rice farmers of the east, this
area perhaps is the most hybrid of any cultural tract, extending from ocean to ocean, the
Atlantic Mediterranean to the Pacific, with Mesopotamia at the heart. It encloses three
interactive, but distinctive, cultures: the Indian-subcontinent, Southeast Asian, and the
oldest, Middle Eastern culture, with their cumulative history of 10000-15000 years.
These centers, though as Islamic, Hindu, etc., are much older by several
thousand years than the assigned labels and should be viewed as independent of reli-
gious labels. Islam, however, dominates the eastern and western wing, while Hin-
duism, the central tract. The eastern wing of Malaysia and Indonesia is Islamic, and
the West Asian Arabic tracts also are Islamic but home to Jews and Christians and
pre-dates Biblical mythicism and Islam traceable to the Sumerian culture. The same
is true about the central tract, or India, acculturated by rice and wheat farmers, and
labeled Hindu, a label used in geographical context by Elamites, but not documented
prior to Buddha’s time (~500 BC).
381
Table XVII.3 Shared Vocabulary in Meindo-Asiatic

MEANING OLDEST FORM ARAB PERS DRAV SKT AM URD/HIN
1 come amad (PER/DR) - amad ana agman - ana
2 buy kharidan (PER) - khridan xendna* - - kharidna
pasandidan
3 like - pasand pasand - - pasand
(PER/DR)
4 dry sukku (DR/PER) - khusk sukku susk - sukhna
5 exit nikal (PER/DR) inkal/nikal nikal nikal - - nikal
6 distinguish farq (ARAB) farq farq - parakh - parakh/faraq
7 beautiful hasan (AKK) hasan hasan hasan - - hasan
8 fire al nar (ARAB) nar nar anarru anal - nar
9 road way sarrah (AKK) sarrah rah sarri/sari - - rah
10 light nur (AKK) nur nur nira/niram - - nur
11 bridge pul (ELAM) - pul pul - - pul
12 little cinna (ELAM) - cinna cinna - - cinna
13 infant baccha (PER/DR) - baccha pacal - - baccha
14 girl bint (AKK) bint penti-pen - - ben/behen
15 darkness megh (DR/PER) - megh megal megha - megha
16 porter kulli (ELAM) - quli kulli - - kuli
17 vileness sar (ARAB) sar sar - srap - sareer
18 self tan (PER/DR) - tan tan/tanu tanu - tan/tanha
19 vein shiryan (ARAB) shiryan siryan - sira - -
barakat
20 prosper barkat barkat barikati vridhi barh barhna/barkat
(ARAB/DR)
21 house bitu (SUM) bait bait bait/vitu - - bait
22 sweat su (SUM) - - su su su su
23 great mah (SUM) mah mah maha maha maha maha
24 me/I mein (SUM) - - - mein mein
25 place/name pura (MUN) - pour puram puram pur
26 tear apart pad (SUM) - - phat - -
27 crow gaga (A-M ghurab kalag karug kaga gagag
28 pigeon kawood (A-M) - kabuter kutru kaputo kewod
29 old, high per (DR) - peer peram pram -
piramatram per-mat-
30 lord, god - - - - per-mat-ma
(ELAM) ama
31 black, color kala (DR/PER) - qara kala kala kala kala
32 see, visit zi (ELAM) ziyar ziyar - - - ziyarat
33 land/country daha (ELAM) - dahae - - - dehat
34 soup (unknown) surba sorpa - soopa - sorba
35 ray keren (HEB) - - - kiran - kiran
36 rock sela (HEB) - - - sila - -
(AM = Austric-Munda)
* in Kurux, Malto, Brahui
382
The history of language, culture, and geographical nationalism must be viewed

as independent of religious labels which are exploited by religious extremists who
like to make them appear as inseparable. Languages are the key to understanding this
political blend or brew.
For example, in West Asia, all faiths (Jew, Christian, and Muslim) greet with
salaamalaikum (peace be upon you), use ALLAH for God, nabi (prophet), all Sum-
erian terms. In South Asia most Muslim groups utilize the Persian term “namaz”
(SKT-namas) for the daily prayers, instead of Arabic “salah” (from Sumerian “sila”-
table 17.1) and some in South India also use SKT-prarthna (prayer). Many Muslims
touch elders’ feet as a mark of respect, a purely cultural practice widespread in Sindh
and Bengal, where they also sometimes greet with folded hands, a practice of Central
and entire South East Asia tract, but wrongly identified with Vedic Hinduism. It was
given a Vedic label by swami Daya nanda only recently (19th century) and then
named “namaste” (greeting). But the “Hindu greetings,” still widespread and perhaps
cultural, consist of terms such as “Jai ramji ki” (“victory to lord Ram”) and “Jai
Ganga maiya” (“victory to mother Ganges”) ; Ganges which means river (s) in many
languages, a cultural item, not uncommonly pronounced with affix “mother” in South
and South East Asia. Me Gong, or kong, meaning “mother river” is a loan (from east)
into SKT, as noted in chapter IV.
Thus the entire culture tract, ocean to ocean, has three cultures and three reli-
gions throughout and with many shared elements. And in the central tract with two
Muslim countries (Pakistan and Bangladesh) and a large Hindu country, INDIA, with
a substantial Muslim minority, there is a vibrant common Indian culture, which is
neither Hindu nor Muslim. Some loosely call it a hybrid of Islamic and Hindu culture,
which apparently is an indirect assumption that a last wave of west asian culture, lan-
guage system, had influenced and further hybridized the evolving Indian (not Hindu)
culture and languages.
A further review of south and south east Asian culture, famous as “Hindu-
Aryan or SKT-dominated” reveals a distinctive food, fauna, and farming method, and
dress codes, etc., specifically rice, sugar, cotton, coconut, mangoes, oranges, mustard,
spices, (names), dress using loose unstitched loin cloths, dhoti or sari, in various
styles, use of the elephant and bullock, and the style of cooking pots/pans, eating on
the leaves, and use of earthen cups, etc. are common features. Marriage ceremonies
with red color bridal dress use of vermillion, horse ride for the groom, extraction of
dowry money from the bride’s parents, etc., are part of South Asian culture, apart
from the “namaste” and touching of feet. West Asia reveals its own distinctive cul-
tural ideas. For example, the idea of dress as a long-flowing gown or two-piece
stitched dress, bridal white gown cap or turban, food and eating habits, coffee,
farming method using the horse, greeting method, “salam” and others, are loosely but
inappropriately called Muslim or Islamic. These cultigens have enriched Southeast
Asia and were brought by West Asians who happened to be Muslim.
Another visible difference between West Asia and rest of the tract is in the
architecture. West Asian arches and domes, minarets and geometric designs and
mosaics are equated with Islam but pre-date it. The temple style-horizontal doorway
383
or acute angular temple entrance, pointed dome with icons, lotus flower, swastika,
animal and human figures are South Asian and East Asian features. Many historians
even call it a Vedic-Aryan-Hindu design. It is definitely wrong as it pre-dates Aryan’s
arrival. Malaysian Islamic mosques and mosques in Kashmir reveal this regional
effect. The famous heliolithic symbol, the swastika, has nothing to do with SKT or
Aryanism. The symbol had existed on Indus seals as discussed before and dissemi-
nated by ancient Celtic people to Europe also.
Interestingly, many historians call Southeast Asia an extension of Aryan-SKT
culture, or Hinduism, or just an extension of Aryan influence. It surely represents
common culture modes of the Austric-Dravidian phase, but it too has been loosely
passed on as Aryan, of course, inappropriately. The culture and language of this entire
area, as mentioned before, has been authored by the rice farmers (Austric-Munda
folks) and wheat farmers (Dravidian). India is the center and a hybrid of the two;
Allahabad in U.P. is the junction of the two crops, with the oldest evidence of rice
farming (~2000 BC) much older than Aryan’s arrival. Aryan, or Vedic, had been
propagated as Brand time since 18-19 century, for this vast cultural tract, essentially a
Dravidian-Austric culture from Kabul (Afghanistan) to Kwala-lum-pur (Malaysia).
Many scholars (only since 19 th century) even cite Aryan names of Indonesian
Muslims as evidence of Aryan-Hindu culture. Linguistic analysis is necessary to
uncover this assumption.
Let us review two famous Indonesian names, one of the founding father and the
first president, and the other of his daughter, a president of recent years of Indonesia:
Ahmad Su Karnu, and Megati wati SU Kar nu putri.
Ahmad (praised) is Arabic, Su (sweet or good) is Sumerian or Austric/Munda,
kar (do) is Sumerian, Persian, and Dravidian. It means good worker or doer is
praised. Megha is Dravidian (DED # 4750 and 4892) meaning dark, or black, cloud,
is spelled as meegh in Persian, wati, a Dravidian suffix for females, and putri (girl) is
from put, or pudd, or but (female pudenda, or external genitalia) a common term in
many language families, including Dravidian and Semitic/IE (chapter II). It means;
female cloud or rain bearer or a dark cloud, a good doer. None of these words are
SKT tatsams. Many words reputed to be common between SKT and Persian have
turned up as Old Elamite and/or Dravidian. Many of these words as noted even came
from the MAF (table 17.1), and they do not belong to any currently known races/
religion. They are not only the oldest but are also ethno-neutral and theo-neutral.
17.7.2 Linguistic Links MEIA
MAF, as noted, is the oldest source of vocabulary, grammars, etc. in MEIA.

Many of those verbs (table 17.1) and other variety of words including numbers (17.2)
serve to link MEIA. Beyond these, some others were discussed in context with Sum-
erian and also in reference to Munda and Dravidian. Some of these words are reas-
sembled in table 17.3 for a better focus. The first eight represent a few additional
verbs, i.e., come, buy, like, dry, etc. shared between Middle East and the rest of the
tract. These are straightforward, needing no elaboration, except # 20, the famous
Arabic word “barakat,” meaning “prosperity,” and shared with Dravidian barna,
384
meaning “to grow, or flourish,” in Urdu is a loan in SKT. Other types with the
meanings and senses of beauty, light, cloud, fire, bridge, etc., and bird names like
crow and pigeon are additional words shared in MEIA. Even the oldest word for a
house, “bait” of Sumerian, reveals the ancient links with Dravidian India. The word
“per” of DR, with a sense of high, superb, excellent, oldest, etc., has a universal usage
in fact; it has many spins in SKT as a prefix, pra mukh (super chief), per-meshwar
from peram-ishwar (God), pra-tap (great heat), and in other IE, words such as pre-
mier, prime, etc, may be its spin-off. The Persian form, peer, is used for elderly wise
person/adviser in Urdu/Hindi. Also, a most important derivative, Piratamaran, is a
popular word for God in Hindu religion and is rooted in Elamite.
Many other terms specific to food, fauna, etc, provide culture links, e.g., mango
(DR) >manju (Arabic), narangi (orange) >naranj, (Arabic), carkhari (DR) >saker
(Arabic) >sugar, arisi (DR) >riz (Arabic) >rice, khand (DR/Munda) meaning raw
sugar>qand in Arabic>candy, and the word for elephant, pallu (DR) >feel (Arabic) ;
the DR word, kala (black) and its Persian form, qara, is now almost universal.
Ancient Elamite zi (see or visit) seems to be a root for ziyar, ziyarat, in Arabic/
Persian (to visit or see) and another Elamite, daha (land/country) is active as dahae
and dehat (village) in Urdu/Hindi and Persian. Persian, as discussed before, had been
a major beneficiary from Elamite, à la SKT/Dravidian, e.g., a Persian verb kosis
(Elam-Kussi) used in Urdu/Hindi besides others. Two Hebrew words not in Arabic
are shared with SKT, sila/sela (rock) and keren/kiran (ray) and the word soup of
Gothic/English of unknown origin, a cognate of soopa (SKT) is a likely cognate of
Persian/Arabic, shorba/shurba/sharbat.
Above and beyond, an enormous list of new cultural vocabulary since 10th
century has almost united the entire MEIA tract. Many of these words were discussed
under Persian and Arabic. In context with Urdu/Hindi, of course, the largest sub-
family of MEIA is the Hindustani or South Asia family.
17.8 HINDUSTANI-SOUTH ASIAN OR A SUPER FAMILY
The idea of the Indian subcontinent as a distinct linguistic area has had support
among western linguists like Emaneau, as discussed by Prof. Deshpande.429 The
polemics inherent in Aryanism vs. Dravidianism and the strategic enterprise, the IE
family had been a hurdle for any new approach. In the selection of the name “Hin-
dustani,” several issues are under scrutiny here: pan-Indian roles of Austric Munda
and Dravidian families for several thousands years prior to Aryans, and pan-Indian
glorious role of SKT in a secular, literary, and culture sense. The term Hindustani
really reflects the inclusiveness of all these language families as does the historical
name “Hinduish” of India, given by Indus valley neighbor, Elamite (chapter III). The
term also bypasses the divisive religious term Aryan and Dravidian.
Obviously, 100-year-old classification of Indian languages is no more justi-
fiable, because of the lack of credibility of PIE, centrality of the Middle East, the
429. M. M. Deshpande (1993), p. 111.
385
major role of the Dravidian family in SKT’s growth as well as of Urdu/Hindi, and the
lack of evidence for mother-daughter relationship between SKT and Urdu/Hindi. The
term Hindustani additionally reflects the aspiration of all Indians prior to 1947,
including Gandhi, a champion of equality of all languages and his supreme sacrifice
for religious/racial harmony and promotion of both scripts for Urdu/Hindi. His
support for the Urdu script was one of his “pro-Muslim crimes,” as mentioned before.
The subdivision of the Hindustani sub-family based strictly on grammar

reveals all varieties. One member belongs to the well-known agglutinating type, with
location in mostly South Indian “Dravidian” group. The others are isolating type,
Austric/Munda, and inflected but inactive SKT, and the largest one, a super hybrid
with mixed grammar, as noted in context with Urdu/Hindi (chapters V and VI). Thus
a fair-size shared vocabulary, mainly driven by Dravidian and Munda and also SKT,
Persian, and Arabic, is more than enough to justify it as a family. But justification and
rationalization, a political art, help to maintain the debate in humanities, while
mythical and religious ideas and faith dominate the gullible main street. Indian
scholars, also, tend to remain within the Indo-centric/Aryan model and thus play to
both gallery and the government, mainly because of lack of academic freedom, since
all university jobs and syllabi are government-funded and controlled. The new classi-
fication and the MEIA family, with its organic link with West Asia, is potentially
unpleasant in the Indian subcontinent; whose leading linguist,430 Dr. Chatterji, had
led the concept that linguistic linkage with outsiders, i.e., Persian, dates only from
Achemenian time (~500 BC).
In concluding the section on the new classification and MAF, the recent work
of Jared Diamond of California and Peter Bellwood of Australia, published in
Science,431 is specially relevant in emphasizing the role of farmers in spreading 15
linguistic families of the world, including IE, DR, Semitic, and others. They consider
the fertile crescent or MAF area as a “powerhouse” and source of three major fam-
ilies, DR, IE, and Semitic. This work, reviewed by New York Times, has been posi-
tively received by leading scholars Merritt Ruhlen and Colin Renfew. These authors
recognize only two linguistic and cultural powerhouses, the other being China. Meso-
potamia, the other of course, had both an eastern end (India) and western extensions
(Egypt/Greece).
The chapter deals with the justification of dismantling the existing families,
19th century mythical dinosaurs based on religious concepts and with no historical
evidence of races, i.e., Aryan/IE or Semitic. The proposed families rest on the foun-
dations of grammar, syntax, and geography, and are supplemented by vocabulary. The
chapter reviews some 100 words located in West Asian fossil languages, like Sum-
430. S. K. Chatterji (1972), pp. 192-193.

431. Nicholas Wade, New York Times, May 6, 2003.
386
erian, as cognates of these found in DR, IE, Semitic. A common word pool, or lan-
guage broth, of Mesopotamia, named MAF, is further defined in the chapter, with
examples rebutting the concept of a religion-based civilization, Hindu, Islamic,
Christian, etc., with emphasis on the independence of language and culture from reli-
gions.
387
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395
INDEX
Achemenian, 37, 59, 61, 68, 69, 73, 77, 386, Allahabadi, Akbar, poet, 176, 219, 276, 292
See also Aryan-Persian Amin, Husain, 10
Abidi, Mohammed Taqi, 340, Amman, Mir, 202, 205, 289, 335
Agra, 127, 176, 180, 183, 187, 189, 201, 206, Aramaic, 15, 20, 26, 30, 37, 38, 56, 61, 73, 76-
209, 213, 214, 231, 269, 283, 285, 292, 78, 89, 110, 112, 119, 133, 140, 225, 253,
323 269, 272, 349-353, 355-357, 360, 390
Ahmed, Nazir, 289, 291 Armenian, 5, 15, 18, 36, 41, 47, 55, 174, 200,
Aiman, Mamun, 339, 340, 341 366, 375, 377
Akbar, King, 100, 172, 175-177, 186, 209, 219, Aryan(s), 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19-25, 28, 30,
220, 223, 250, 275, 276, 286, 292, 322, 33, 36, 37, 42, 44-50, 52, 55, 56, 60, 67,
323, 325, 326 70, 77-81, 83-87, 92, 94, 95, 97, 98, 101,
Akhgar, Syed Mohammed Hanif, 342 108, 110, 112, 114, 115, 120, 124, 131, 171,
Akkadian, 14, 15, 30, 34, 37, 42, 59, 61, 62, 172, 197-200, 224-226, 229, 230, 233,
67, 70, 73-76, 80, 118, 124, 133, 350, 370, 236-238, 240, 245, 249, 250, 253, 254,
372, 374, 376, 377 256, 262, 263, 270-272, 298-300, 325,
Albanian language, 18, 38, 47, 377 336, 347, 352-354, 359-361, 366, 367,
Alberuni, 29, 38, 134-136, 150, 157, 158, 348, 370, 376, 377, 383, 384, 386, 389, 390,
393 392, 393
Alexander (the Great), 20, 38, 55, 56, 61, Aryan-Persian, 37
68, 77, 109, 110, 112, 119, 222, 347, 349, Arzoo Siraj, 325
350, 351, 353 Asoka, 9, 16, 27, 56, 61, 112, 113, 115, 118, 127,
Aligarh, 9, 88, 90, 208-212, 221, 224, 230, 349, 353, 360, 365, 392
243, 245, 259, 285, 288-292, 301, 308, Assyrian, 15, 20, 30, 37, 48, 59, 61, 62, 66, 67,
309, 337, 339, 341, 389, 391-393 73-77, 89, 112, 118, 119, 133, 269, 350,
Allahabad, 7, 9, 10, 12, 29, 112, 127, 143, 180, 360, 392
184, 189, 195, 201, 203, 208-213, 216, Aurangzeb, King, 172, 175, 176, 233
219, 220, 223, 228, 232, 241-243, 246, Austric, 3, 5, 11, 15, 19, 27-30, 33, 41, 43, 44,
247-249, 259, 261, 262, 266, 268, 278, 48-51, 55, 56, 59, 63, 69, 79, 80, 83-90,
285, 288, 291, 292, 295, 301, 302, 304, 92, 93, 98, 100, 108, 110, 117, 124, 127,
311, 313, 317-319, 323, 324, 341, 357, 384, 154, 156, 253, 270, 272, 313, 354, 359,
392, 393 370, 372, 373, 381, 383, 384, 386
Allahabad University, 9, 208, 266, 268, Austric-Munda, 3, 11, 15, 27, 28, 30, 33, 41,
278, 285, 288, 302, 304, 317, 318, 357 43, 44, 48, 50, 51, 55, 56, 59, 63, 80, 83,
397
86, 89, 90, 92, 100, 108, 110, 117, 124, 127, 202, 205-214, 216, 217, 219, 221-224,
154, 156, 253, 270, 272, 313, 354, 359, 227, 232, 237, 242, 243, 245, 250, 259,
373, 381-384 260, 266, 267, 270, 275, 283, 287, 288,
Avestan, 11, 27, 30, 36, 37, 76, 78, 79, 150 289, 291, 304, 309, 315-319, 323, 333,
Babur, King, 135 334, 350, 359, 365, 389-394
Bachchan, Hari Vansh Rai, 304, 389 Delhi College, 201, 206-210, 217, 237, 243,
Baghdad, 38, 135, 148, 245 245, 288, 334
Baluchi, 18, 269, 270, 377 Dev Nagari script, Nagari, 263, 356
Banaras, Varanasi, 163, 203, 211, 234, 289, Elamite, 3, 5, 14, 15, 20, 28, 29, 36, 37, 43, 56,
297, 318, 320, 324 60, 62, 67, 68, 69, 73, 77, 78, 80, 84, 94-
Bengali, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 44, 45, 49, 53, 56, 98, 101, 106, 118, 133, 140, 155, 156, 174,
84, 86, 87, 92, 95, 107, 128, 140, 150, 156, 349, 359, 360, 370-373, 375, 379, 382,
165, 170, 173, 198, 199, 202, 204, 205, 384, 385, 386
209, 225-232, 236, 238-250, 256, 263- Faiz Ahmad Faiz, 280
265, 272, 273, 289, 296, 297, 300, 304, Faraz, Ahmed, 281, 340
310, 316, 320, 335, 338, 354, 356, 365, FOXP2 Speech Gene, 37
371, 379, 390 Gandhi, Indira Nehru, 266, 287, 389
Bible, 38, 96 Gandhi, M.K., 6, 11, 111, 234, 250, 254-266,
Bombay, 137, 186, 190, 201, 203, 214, 215, 272, 273, 282, 295, 304, 305, 386, 390
240, 259, 266, 273, 282, 287, 297, 309, Garanth Sahab, 164
314, 315, 316, 318-324, 327-333, 337, 339, Ghalib, 189, 201, 209, 210, 212, 213, 216-218,
389, 391 221, 266, 267, 276, 279, 282, 283, 291,
Brahui, 19, 38, 68, 98, 103, 104, 105, 269, 270, 322, 334, 337, 341
383 Ghaznavi, Mehmud, 157, 170
Brushaski, 36, 83, 86 Ghori, Mohammed, 155, 158, 160, 170, 225
Calcutta, 4, 17, 23, 34, 156, 173, 183, 200- Gilchrist, John, 202, 203, 204, 317, 333
208, 211, 212, 214-216, 220, 223, 224, Gilgamesh, 6, 64, 65, 96, 150, 376
239, 240, 244-246, 250, 257-290, 292, Golwalkar, M.S. 254, 257
318, 320, 364, 365, 389, 392, 393 Gorakhpuri, Firaq, 259
Calcutta University, 258 Grierson, George, 56, 114
Chatterji, Bankim, Chandra, 107, 244, 256, Hafiz, 150, 393
259 Hali, 209, 212-215, 220, 221, 234, 247, 333,
Chinese, 13, 19, 27, 28, 30, 34, 41, 43, 44, 57, 390, 392
59, 78, 80, 113, 117, 154, 197, 199, 283, Ham, 21, 34, 90, 262, 363-365, 367, 377
337, 346, 347, 349, 363-367, 379, 381 Hamurabi, 60, 61, 67, 73
Clive, Lord, 172, 199, 364 Haq, Abdul, 216, 259, 289
cuneiform, 14, 23, 60, 66-68, 70, 74, 96, 118, Hatim, 181, 183, 196, 205, 286
349, 350, 351, 367 Hindu College, 237, 245
Curzon, Lord, 239, 245, 305 Hitler, Adolf, 24, 37, 86, 257
Cyrus, 37, 55, 56, 77, 225, 269 Hittite, 5, 11, 14, 15, 23, 30, 37, 42, 44, 48, 60,
Dagh, 216, 275, 283, 322 62, 70-74, 78-80, 97, 116, 118, 133, 349,
Dani, A H, 68, 97, 359, 371, 390 372-377, 379, 390
Dard, Mir, 183, 185, 186, 228, 325 Hurrian, 5, 14, 15, 48, 70, 72, 73, 98, 118, 174,
Darius, 77, 112, 269, 350 373-375
Deccani, Wali, 182 Hurrian-Mitanni, 5, 14, 70, 72, 118, 174, 373,
Delhi, 9, 16, 88, 95, 113, 125, 135, 155-160, 374
166-168, 172-189, 191, 193, 194, 196, 201, Husain Imam, 10, 341
398
Index
Hyderabad, 159, 169, 173, 174, 182, 193, 199, Kurux, 9, 19, 67, 84, 98, 103, 104, 127, 383
214, 216, 219, 220, 268, 270, 285, 288, Lahore, 34, 87, 113, 134, 155-157, 160, 180,
290, 333, 335, 342, 391 182, 183, 201, 202, 207-209, 212, 214-
Ibn Khuldun, 29, 367 216, 219, 223, 242, 258, 259, 270, 277,
Indian National Congress, 201, 211, 389 281, 285, 287, 288, 292, 301, 315, 318-
Indus Valley Culture, 11, 14, 15, 24, 25, 27, 321, 329, 332, 333, 341, 350, 389, 391-
36, 60, 68, 78, 84, 85, 94, 96, 97, 112, 154, 393
348, 349, 359 London, 10, 34, 56, 90, 203, 245, 292, 317,
Iqbal, Sheikh Mohammad, 52, 219, 220, 333, 336, 341, 342, 371, 389-394
250, 254, 255, 259, 260, 262, 276, 277, Lucknow, 9, 10, 34, 112, 137, 156, 162, 180-
278, 281, 285, 293, 313, 322, 325, 328, 187, 189, 191, 194, 199, 202, 203, 206,
333, 334, 335, 337, 340, 342, 343 208, 213, 214, 216, 220, 223, 255, 259,
Iran, 14, 15, 20, 24, 29, 34, 36, 37, 43, 66, 68, 265, 267, 270, 285-287, 289, 290, 292,
78, 80, 95, 96, 113, 118, 134, 137, 150, 155, 301, 309, 310, 311, 313, 317, 318, 320, 323,
173, 191, 269, 345, 349, 350, 360, 365, 324, 338, 342, 350, 389-391
368, 370, 393 Ludhianvi, Sahir, 260, 266, 281
Iraq, 4, 14, 15, 29, 34, 35, 55, 77, 80, 192, 292, Malayalam, 13, 19, 98, 103, 104, 113
349, 357, 393 Malto, 9, 19, 84, 98, 103, 104, 127, 381
Jalibi, J, 159, 162, 164, 166-168, 178-181, 183- Mansuri, Adil, 340, 343, 344
185, 191-195, 218, 270, 271, 272, 278, 391 Marathi, 14, 18, 53, 127, 128, 155, 156, 249,
Jehangir, King, 318, 319, 323 262, 356, 379
Jinnah, M.A., 6, 215, 250, 254-259, 291, 305, Meluha, 24, 66, 112
391 Mir Taqi Mir, 187
Jones, Sir William, 5, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 29, Mohani, H., 254, 255, 260, 391
44, 46, 150, 199, 200, 250, 364, 365-367, Momin, 168, 217, 218, 322
377, 380, 392, 393 Muller, Max, 22, 237
Kabir Das, Kabir, 167 Munda, 5, 7, 9, 14-16, 19, 29, 44, 48, 51-53,
Kalidas, 113, 126, 204, 206, 276, 317 55-57, 59, 79, 83, 86-94, 97-102, 105-
Kannada language, 13, 19, 89, 98, 104, 113, 108, 114, 115, 118-122, 131, 140, 141, 144,
168, 376 157, 160, 166, 191, 233, 269, 270, 272,
Kannauj, 113, 128, 155, 158-160, 166 297, 322, 325, 345, 356, 369, 370-372,
Kanpur, 113, 208, 209, 223, 232, 234, 286, 379, 381, 384-386
292, 305, 324 Muslim League, 201, 259
Karachi, 9, 10, 137, 268, 270, 280, 285, 315, Mutiny, 206-212, 214, 217, 219, 221, 236,
333, 343, 389, 391 302
Kashmiri, Agha Hashr, 318 Nebuchadnezzar, 60, 68
Kassites, 67, 80 Nehru, J.L., 6, 62, 134, 199, 211, 219, 228,
Khan, Abdul Majeed, 12, 285 250, 254, 255, 258, 259, 260, 266, 277,
Khan, Insha Ullah, 194 292, 295, 301, 304, 305, 367, 392
Khan, Sir Syed Ahmad, 174, 210, 212, 213, Nehru, Motilal, 211, 295
215, 245-251, 253, 255, 257, 268, 292, Nineveh, 60, 77
319, 340, 392 Nirala, 301, 304
Khare, P., 10, 338, 391 Nishat, Atia, 9, 268, 317, 319
Khayyam, Omar, 304 Nomani, Maulana Shibli, 213, 255, 292
Khusro, Amir, 16, 160-162, 179-181, 226, Pali, 6, 15, 16, 30, 38, 108, 112, 113, 127-130,
227, 234, 325, 337, 393 269, 270
Kumar, Bahubal, 10, 340, 343
399
Panini, 17, 22, 38, 40, 41, 114, 117, 300, 325, Siddiqi, Fasih Ahmed, 292,
350 Siddiqi, Rasheed Ahmed, 289, 291
Pant, S., 296, 301, 303 Sindhi, 14, 18, 128, 134, 155, 158, 161, 194,
Phoenician-Aramaic Script, 14, 347, 351, 268, 269, 270, 354, 355, 379
360, 361 Socrates, 22, 24, 265
Phoenicians, 113, 351 Surdas, 177, 180, 316
Plato, 22 Syria, 14, 15, 36, 48, 56, 70, 78, 81, 118, 272
Price, William, 204, 227 Tagore, R., 107, 250, 260, 276
Pritchett, Francis, 358 Tamil, 13, 19, 28, 67, 69, 86, 89, 97-99, 101,
Punjab University, 206, 208, 209, 215, 336 103, 104, 113, 161, 168, 170, 182, 191, 198,
Quran, 25, 26, 111, 114, 133, 137, 148, 156, 164, 229, 262, 264, 265, 337, 345, 346, 358,
168, 173, 206, 215, 223, 248, 299, 311, 360, 379
313, 321, 354, 394 Tarachand, 154, 156, 162, 163, 198, 199, 226,
Rahman, Humeira, 340, 341 228, 250, 256, 393
Rahman, Khalilur, 339 Taylor, William, 204, 226
Rai Lajpat, 250, 254, 255, 256 Telegu, 379
Rigved, 237, 352 Tulsidas, 220
Roy, Raja Ram Mohan, 111, 215, 236, 240 Turkey, 14, 15, 19, 29, 34, 36, 43, 47, 48, 56,
Ruhlen, Merritt, 34, 35, 37, 41, 45-49, 74, 61, 80, 81, 118, 134, 200, 255, 272, 292,
363, 364, 370-372, 378, 379, 386, 393 366, 377
Ruswa, Mirza Hadi, 290 Turkish, 5, 14-16, 19, 28, 36, 38, 41, 43, 44,
Salonvi, Amin, 286, 389 55, 57, 67, 80, 98, 112, 113, 135, 158, 160,
Santhali, 86-89, 119, 379 166, 171, 173, 174, 179, 200, 244, 312, 354,
Sargon, 60, 67, 97, 111, 112 363, 367, 377, 379-381, 391
Sauda, R., 178, 183, 187-189, 192, 196, 323 Uratrian, 15, 72, 73, 80
Sarvarkar, 254, 260, 271, 305 Verma, Mahadevi, 296, 301, 302, 308, 393
Sforza Cavalli, L.L., 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 47, Vivekananda, Swami, 237
48, 53, 55, 83, 389 Voltaire, 22, 196, 364
Shah, Mohammed Quli Qutub, 168, 169 Wells, H.G., 36, 55
Shah, Wajid Ali, 183, 215, 220, 317, 323, 325 Zafar, Bahadur Shah, 173, 186, 216, 217, 221
Shakuntala, 206, 317 Zaka Ullah, Moulvi, 208, 212, 289
Shem, 20, 34, 67, 365, 377 Zauq, Ibrahim, 208, 216-219, 222, 291, 322
Shlegel, F., 196, 367
400

Abdul Jamil Khan - Urdu Hindi - An Artificial Divide (Politics of Language) (2006)

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Abdul Jamil Khan - Urdu Hindi - An Artificial Divide (Politics of Language) (2006)

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URDU/HINDI:

No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data —

Khan, Abdul Jamil.

Cover Image: Hieroglyphs in stones, Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India

Printed in the United States

Language Families and Types

ABS - Asokan Brahmi Script

AAA - Aligarh Alumni Association

Desi - term for person from Indian subcontinent

LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 11

CHAPTER I. MESOPOTAMIAN ROOTS AND LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION 13

CHAPTER II. PHONETICS, LINGUISTICS AND GENETICS — DNA 33

2.2 SPEECH, GENES (FOXP2), AND LANGUAGE EVOLUTION 37

CHAPTER III. MIDDLE EAST: SOURCE OF SEMITIC, DRAVIDIAN AND

CHAPTER IV. AUSTRIC-MUNDA-DRAVIDIAN AND OLDEST HINDI/URDU 83

4.4 THE AUSTRIC OR MUNDA LANGUAGE 86

CHAPTER V. SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT AND OLD-URDU/HINDI 109

CHAPTER VII. LANGUAGE OF SAINTS AND SULTANS 153

CHAPTER VIII. SECULAR MOGHULS AND SECULAR LANGUAGE 171

8.7 URDU’S LINGUISTIC GROWTH 180

CHAPTER IX. URDU: OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF BRITISH INDIA 197

CHAPTER X. HINDI’S CREATOR: BRITISH BENGAL 225

CHAPTER XIII. HINDI’S EVOLUTION THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY 295

CHAPTER XIV. URDU/HINDI: A SHOW BIZ POWER 315

CHAPTER XV. URDU/HINDI OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD 333

CHAPTER XVI. URDU/HINDI SCRIPTS: COMMON ORIGIN 347

CHAPTER XVII. MESOPOTAMIAN REALISM AND RE-CLASSIFICATION 363

*Note: Transliteration is based on S. K. Chatterji (1972) pp. XXV-XXXIV

A new classification based on grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and geography,

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

Mesopotamian languages are the oldest sources of Arabic, arising from

Urdu, as a successor of Persian, was adopted by the British (1835) as the

As a New York physician, alien to the humanities, I might seem an unlikely

LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Table I.1 Theaters of Urdu/Hindi and Others 15

1.1 SCIENTIFIC HISTORY: SUMMARIZED

1. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 37–39.

West Asia, Iraq, Central Asia, India

10-8000 BCE Pre-Sumerian Pro-Elam-Dr Hattusi Austric-Munda

6-2000 BCE Sumerian Elamite, Hattusi, Caucasian Munda, Proto-Dravidian

Akkadian Sumero/Akk Hybrid Pkt (unknown)

2-1000 BCE Sumer/Akk Elamite Hittite, Akk, Hurrian Munda, DR

Babylonian Sumero/Akk Uratrian Aramaic, Vedic

300 CE Assyrian Old Persian Aramaic, Armenian Pkt (Pali)

100-1000 CE Aramaic, Persian, Aramaic Greek, Turkish SKT, Munda, DR,

Arabic, Greek Arabic Aramaic, Armenian Pkts (Pali)

Arabic Arab, Urdu/Hindi,

18-2000 CE Arabic Persian, Arabic Turkish, Greek Urdu/Hindi, DR,

Arabic English Munda, PER, English

1.2 TEXTBOOK HISTORY

1.3 EVOLUTION OF CLASSIFICATION

The evolution of classification is really embedded in the prevalent religious

2. F. Bodmer (1985), pp. 171–175

Chinese (Mandarin), Tibetan, Siamese, Burmese, etc.

1.4 POLITICS OF LINGUISTIC SPLITS

1.5 A MYTHICAL DILEMMA IN MODERN LINGUISTICS

3. S. K. Chatterji (1969), pp. 32–33.

1.6 THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF SANSKRIT

Sanskrit is an essential element in Hindu’s creation myth, which is cyclical and

6. William Durant (1935), p. 408.

1.7 INDOPHILISM AND INDO-EUROPEANISM