A brief insight into the linguistic policy of the Mughal empire
- a common misperception is that Urdu was the imperial lingua Franca for the Mughal empire. Far from it Urdu or anything even slightly resembling to never played any such role at all
- a common misperception is that Urdu was the imperial lingua Franca for the Mughal empire. Far from it Urdu or anything even slightly resembling to never played any such role at all
Fact is that It was Farsi/Persian that was the language of Mughal empire.
So If one can time travel to Mughal court one would hear What Akbar is speaking in this video song. Not the Urdu dialogues of Mughal-e-azam! Sounds totally alien, doesn’t it?
So If one can time travel to Mughal court one would hear What Akbar is speaking in this video song. Not the Urdu dialogues of Mughal-e-azam! Sounds totally alien, doesn’t it?
Mughals cherished Farsi so much that at one point an attempt was made to purge Farsi of even all the Arabic words.
If that was their stance for Arabic, one can easily imagine how they never cared for Urdu with its mixture from Hindi!
If that was their stance for Arabic, one can easily imagine how they never cared for Urdu with its mixture from Hindi!
Mughal patronage for Farsi was so heavy that the amount of Persian literature generated in Mughal court is actually far greater in amount than that of entire medieval Persia!
In contrast Mughal patronage for Indian languages was almost close to zero!
In contrast Mughal patronage for Indian languages was almost close to zero!
Because of this close association of Farsi with Mughal imperial power it was seen as the language of Islamic power in India atleast by Muslim elites as late as 18th and 19th century.
So what changed? When did Urdu came in power?
So what changed? When did Urdu came in power?
After the death of Aurangzeb, there started a sudden decline in the fortunes of the Mughals. For the first time Islamic elites encountered a situation where Hindu elites started gaining more and more say in the geo political milieu of Islamic court.
With Hindu elites gaining more and more authority it became inevitable to ignore their language in the royal administration. But of course if Mullas show any respect for others culture and language then they aren’t Indian mullas afterall!
For them it because extremely unbearable to see Farsi being replaced by Indian language as that would mark the end of Islamic power in India as well. Their solution was Urdu.
A language that still retained really heavy Farsi vocabulary in Indian structure language.
A language that still retained really heavy Farsi vocabulary in Indian structure language.
It satisfied their ego of not embracing Indian language by at the same time it also filled Hindus in perceiving it as something closer to their own language!
Even today stupid Indians consider Urdu as Indian language!
Even today stupid Indians consider Urdu as Indian language!
Even though pain of replacing Farsi with Urdu was very much perceptible.
For eg This is what Ghalib says. He wanted to be known by his Farsi poetry and not Urdu. Ironically today he is seen as king of Urdu poetry.
For eg This is what Ghalib says. He wanted to be known by his Farsi poetry and not Urdu. Ironically today he is seen as king of Urdu poetry.
Even in 19th century When a North Indian Maulavi suggested Salar Jang - a Hyderabadi aristocrat to embrace Urdu this is how he responded to Maulavi
So Urdu hardly had any role in entire Mughal history. Muslims themselves detested it and only reason they embraced it was to avoid acknowledgement of Loss of Islamic power. Those who think Urdu is an Indian language are pompous fools of high degree!
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