<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">The language of many tongues</h1>
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<ul><li><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/sukrita-paul-kumar/">SUKRITA PAUL KUMAR</a></li></ul>
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<img src="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/02534/04DFR_2534258e.jpg" class="" alt="The statue of Mirza Ghalib at Jamia Millia Islamia" title="The statue of Mirza Ghalib at Jamia Millia Islamia" height="322" width="318">
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<div class="">Sandeep_Saxena;THE HINDU</div>
The statue of Mirza Ghalib at Jamia Millia Islamia
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<div class=""><div class="">TOPICS</div></div><br>
<h3 class=""> <a class="" href="http://www.thehindu.com/tag/language/546/"> language</a> </h3>
<h3 class=""> <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/tag/hindi/552/"> Hindi</a> </h3>
<h3 class=""> <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/tag/urdu/560/"> Urdu</a> </h3> </div>
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<h2>In many ways Urdu and Hindi are like the proverbial twins.</h2>
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<p class="">Urdu language in India is suspended in a web of
contradictions. One of the most loved languages, its script remains
inaccessible to most admirers. In “A Letter from Bara Banki”, C.M. Naim
cites a verse by a young poet to indicate the destiny of Urdu in India:
“They all love me, but none is mine / I exist in this country like
Urdu.” </p><p class="">Urdu passed through a fascinatingly syncretic
process in its formation and historically it shared its space equally
amongst different communities, the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh. The
artificial cultural exclusivity imposed on it sometimes is inherently
against its own identity. While also drawing on languages such as
Turkish, Persian and Arabic, the Urdu language in fact evolved from
several languages and dialects spoken in India. </p><p class="">Incidentally,
the word “Urdu” means “the royal camp” in which many languages mingled.
It came to be known as “Rekhta” meaning “mixed”. By 1857, Urdu had
acquired a variety of styles that include predominantly, the Dilli and
the Lukhnavi styles along with the Deccani variety widespread South of
the Vindhyas. Deccani language demonstrates an active interaction
between Urdu and many other languages local to that region, such as
Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and others. </p><p class="">Urdu related
with Hindi much more intimately and even problematically. As professed
by many scholars, Urdu and Hindi could really be seen as twin languages.
They were both referred to as Hindavi or Hindui around the time of Amir
Khusrau in the 13th and 14th centuries. Interestingly, Ghalib in the
19th Century referred to his language as “Hindi”. Though the term “Urdu”
was first used in 1780, the nomenclature was not popularly used. The
eminent scholar Shams-ur-Rehman Faruqi enumerates the earlier names for
the language now called Urdu, as Hindavi, Hindi, Dilhavi, Gujari,
Dakkani and Rekhtah. He goes on to say, “Even in early 20th Century, the
name Hindi was used to mean Urdu”. Till nearly as late as the early
20th Century, Hindi and Urdu could take each other’s place.</p><p class="">It
was in 1803 that the differences between the two were in a way
formulated through the British language policy. Two styles of Khariboli,
‘Urdu’ and ‘Hindi’ got established at Fort William College, pinning
each one down to a specific script. Herein were sown the seeds of
linguistic strife between the two, seeds that developed into a political
battle for power later. </p><p class="">The following narrative of
David Matthews is pertinent if only to demonstrate the
interchangeability of the spoken Hindi and Urdu by the common man of
India: “In a hotel in Madras, I called the waiter and ordered my tea in
Urdu and asked him his name. The waiter looked very uncomfortable and
declared that he disliked Hindi and that in Madras they spoke only
Tamil. I told him at once: ‘But I am not speaking Hindi, I am actually
talking to you in Urdu.’ He at once relaxed and said: ‘What a sweet
language! Urdu is a beautiful language with such beautiful ghazals and
poetry.”</p><p class="">The rich repository of knowledge and
literature in Urdu is vibrantly alive even today. When we talk of the
cherished heritage of Urdu, we must also include its rich oral
traditions of daastangoi and kissagoi, long intricate tales told with a
strong sense of drama and imagination. This matches with a very powerful
tradition of fiction writing in Urdu. </p><p class="">In everyday
conversation, as also in serious academic presentations, Urdu verses, of
such poets as Ghalib, Mir, Faiz or Iqbal are lovingly and spontaneously
recited even though most people are not able to read the Urdu script.
The so-called ‘Hindi’ films too have kept Urdu alive. Why then should
Urdu and its script not be taught in more schools along with Hindi? The
oft-quoted argument has been, “Why confine Urdu only to the Persian
script when it can be made accessible in Devnagari, which is taught all
over the country?” But then, some linguists argue, isn’t the script
inherent to the identity of a language? The script, they say, symbolizes
the culture which it carries.</p><p class="">As Susham Bedi of
Columbia University suggests, should we perhaps use a hyphenated term
Hindi-Urdu and acknowledge their twin identity: let them survive and
thrive in both the scripts so that the Ganga-Jamuni culture doesn’t get
erased. The eminent scholar Abul Haq had rightly pointed out how Urdu
was born from a cultural synthesis. Its conversation with Hindi must
continue.</p><p class="">Ironically, the region referred to as the
Hindi belt is the very region where there is a large concentration of
people who read, write and speak Urdu! <br></p><p class=""><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-language-of-many-tongues/article7612174.ecehttp://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-language-of-many-tongues/article7612174.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-language-of-many-tongues/article7612174.ecehttp://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-language-of-many-tongues/article7612174.ece</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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