Prof Junaid Jazib
Urdu, a language spoken and cherished by the millions across the globe at present, had originated and evolved between 13th to 18th centuries in the Indian heartland. It today, however, is facing up an unprecedented kind of animosity in the same land where it was born and groomed.
The origin of Urdu language was a symbolic manifestation of the secular ethos present and prevalent a few centuries back in the subcontinent. It didn’t originate, as some opine, in the Delhi darbaar or the Mughal army’s camps. Nor did anybody bring it along from across the Arabian Sea or the Hindukush peaks. It came into being as an outcome of the socio-linguistic interactions and exchanges among the folks coming from different socio-lingual backgrounds in the Indian heartland. Urdu (linguistically, an Indo-Aryan language) got formed by addition of local and non local words to a vernacular base. It absorbed words from Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Turkic, Pashtu, Punjabi and many other native and non-native languages in a very natural and beautifying manner resulting in the development of a sweet and popular language. Its origin and evolution, thus, personifies love, tolerance and mutual existence that persisted among the masses. The dialect served as an easier and effective means of communication for the general masses, poets, writers, sufis, saints and social reformers who, irrespective of their religious or cultural affiliations, used, refined and promoted it. Khusru, Mir, Ghalib, Chakbast, Firaq, Iqbal, Nasir and many other geniuses served it and expanded its scope and expressions. Gradually, Urdu became the representative of a civilization identifiable by its secular upholding, social ethics, cultural values and standard etiquettes. It was for its unparalleled sweetness, politeness and mannerism that appeals and mesmerizes elites and commoners equally. Though Urdu has always remained a dominant and popular language in India, it never was an official language of any ruler earlier to the Britishers who, on their assuming of the Delhi Darbaar, declared it (along with English language,) the official language of India. It was in 1877 when, with an attempt to communalize this language, Devnagri script was adopted for it in parts of today’s Bihar. It, unfortunately, paved the way for splitting a beautiful language into two unnatural rivals. With the creation of Pakistan, Urdu became her official language. The most learned and enlightened citizenry considers Urdu language and literature even today a symbol of progression and refinement.
Urdu is, at present, a global language with millions of speakers, readers and writers spread across many Asian, African and European countries. It, however, is in great despondency in a land where it originated, evolved and got promoted as a lingua franca. It is not yet non-existent in the country but, unfortunately, it confronts a unique type of apartheid from its own speakers. Urdu is still the language of masses and elites in India but is, at the same time, being projected as something sort of maliichh or non-Indian. Besides being loved for its modesty and great poetry it is also hated for being language of a particular community or, may be, for being the official language of a particular country. In the present day Bollywood movies Urdu is often ridiculed and portrayed as some unfamiliar tongue typified with Arabic sounds of Kha, Qaa and Ain. Ironically, the language used in these so called Hindi films is the purest form of Urdu, branded as Hindi. Sabotaging the strong secular character of Urdu, it is being linked with one particular religion or minority group.
There is no denying the fact that Urdu is the language of masses and elites in India even today as it remained in the past. Official Sanskritised Hindi could never become the language of common people here. Despite successive attempts, it could not be done away with perennial Urdu terms and terminology in departments like judiciary, revenue, police, etc. Indian cinema, journalism, TV serials etc. depend heavily on Urdu diction and phraseology. Even the newsreader and the compère on country’s official radio and TV Channels can’t help benefitting from Urdu idiom and wordage for the sake of better deliverance and effective communication. Ghazal is, even today, the choice of the Indian elites, irrespective of their religio-cultural backgrounds. A shopkeeper in the market or a speaker in a public meeting invariably uses Urdu couplets to impress his listeners or express his feelings. Even the radical leader in the parliament makes use of typical Persianised Urdu words and terminology and quotes from Ghalib’s verses to beautify his expression. Iqbal’s ???? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ?????(Saare jahaaN se achha hindstaaN hamara), being much more popular than jana gana mana, is still the unofficial anthem of the country. Inqilaab, azadi, shaheed, qurbani, wafa, etc and hundreds of other typical Urdu words (which rarely have their equivalents in other vernaculars) are still, subconsciously, the part and parcel of public articulations in India. The role played by Urdu in getting the country freedom from foreign rule can never be underestimated. Socialism-the awakening movement of yester years-made its way among the Indian masses primarily and fore-mostly through Urdu poetry and fiction. Urdu embodies in its structural and expressional make-up a great repository of Indian ethos blended with universal values. The most learned and enlightened group of the citizenry still considers Urdu language and literature as a symbol of progression and refinement.
It may appear strange but is true that Urdu is facing enmity from its own speakers and in its own land. But, is it affordable, or for that matter possible, for the secular Indian society to bear the loss of Urdu (which is not merely a depository of country’s huge socio-cultural heritage but also) to which the Indian society owes a lot even today. The malicious and conspiratorial attempts to merge the mainstream Urdu diction with Hindi in order to marginalize the former are like living in a fool’s paradise.
(The author is HoD Environmental Science GDC Thanamandi Rajouri)
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