The decline of Urdu is not a recent phenomenon. In 1900, Anthony MacDonnell, Governor of the United Provinces, sounded the death knell of Urdu. He passed an order that it should not be used as the official bureaucratic language. Since then, and arguably even before that, Urdu and the culture associated with it has slowly eroded. As a language, Urdu is in the unique position of having been originally created as a bridge between people who spoke different languages in India. Muslims who came to India between the 11th century right up to Mughal times may have come as conquerors. But, unlike the British, they stayed and made India their home.
All these people spoke languages which were not native to India; Persian, Turkic languages like Chaghatai and Dari. However, in order to communicate and interact, Urdu was created. It drew in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hindi and, therefore, was spoken by people regardless of caste or creed. However, in 1901, in a census by the British, the language fell prey to communalisation. Urdu was listed as a Muslim language and Hindi as a Hindu one. These distinctions had never been made before and the poetry of people like Brij Narayan ‘Chakbast’, Gopi Chand ‘Aman’ and Pandit Harichand ‘Akhtar’ testifies to this.
Full report here Hindustan Times
No comments:
Post a Comment