A cultural bridge in need of protection

Urdu, aka Spoken Hindustani — the common man’s language, has been the prominent vernacular bridge connecting various regions of Greater India since its inception over seven millennia ago. Also known as “Khadi Boli”, initially confined to Delhi and the adjoining areas of the erstwhile Central Province, it subsequently spread to other parts, extending up to the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), which brought the socio-political renaissance in the region. Despite its widespread contributions, and amongst the 22 constitutionally recognised languages, Urdu is standing at an existential crossroads, struggling for its revival. Urdu’s advent goes back to the 13th century CE; there were primarily two contrasting morphemes in use: Sanskrit, predominantly Hindi written in Devanagari, and Persian, written in the Perso-Arabic script. Incidentally, Sufism had also made its mark in India around this period. Bereft of any common means of communication, and with the absence of a simple connect with the masses, it was found wanting in spreading their godly paeans among the public. It was the Sufi saint Amir Khusro who, by combining the old Hindi language (Braj Bhasha) and Persian, came out with a new lexicon - the “Rekhta” (hybrid), later named “Zuban-e-Ordu” - Urdu. Coupled with its colloquial vernacular, symbiotic grammar, and the poetic content of Persian already in use in North Indian languages, e.g. Punjabi, it crossed all religious barriers and became the “lingua franca” of the regions. During British rule, it further attained wider status by becoming the official language of the courts.

All through, Urdu’s contributions in integrating the “religio-social-political fibre” of our country were monumental. During the freedom struggle, Urdu journalism played an important role in generating the spirit of freedom among the masses. Of these, the first Urdu daily of North India and the third in India - “The Daily Urdu Akhbar”, launched in 1837 from Delhi - had not only played a crucial role in 1857 but also continued its aggressive participation throughout the independence movement. Its editor, Maulvi Muhammad Baqir, was publicly executed in September 1857 for his untiring crusade against British rule. In Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai, in order to inveigle pro-independence sentiments and mobilise the masses, also launched an Urdu daily, “The Bande (Vande) Mataram”, from Lahore.

Similarly, we can ill afford to ignore the scholarly contributions of the Urdu literati in forging interfaith bonhomie among the masses. A number of religious scriptures were cross-translated into and from Urdu. For instance, Prof. Dil Mohd of Lahore, in 1940, was felicitated for translating the Holy Gita, the Gayatri Mantra, the Japji Sahib, and the Sukhmani Sahib into Urdu. Urdu’s flourishing stride continued after independence primarily because of its widespread vernacular base and the voluntary support of various literary bodies.

Everything appeared hunky-dory till some “socio-political” overtures started aligning Urdu with a particular community and region. It resulted in shrinking its vernacular base. Somewhere around this period, robust movements to promote Hindi were launched by the government and other agencies; their cumulative manifestation resulted in substantial attrition of various regional languages, including Urdu, which perhaps suffered the most. The atrophic trend prompted Khushwant Singh who, in 1975, while addressing a seminar, had prophesied that “Urdu would become a dying language”.  We must remember that Urdu is our “Scheduled Language”, and further buttressed by the Supreme Court Ruling of Apr 2025 affirmed that “ the Urdu born and flourished in India is an integral part of our shared culture”,  it thus becomes incumbent on us to safeguard its solemn heritage.

Foremost, the Urdu clerisy, acting as the “vanguard”, should harness all academic and institutional resources, bring in awareness, and promote Urdu by sharing their literary and poetic repertoire among the youth. Urdu cultural centres affiliated with selected universities and educational institutes should be set up.   Interestingly, Maharashtra, in order to promote Urdu among the youth, launched a state-level annual Urdu carnival in January 2025 at Kolhapur. We need more such emulative initiatives from other states and NGOs as well.

As of now, just seven out of the 28 states and eight Union Territories (UTs) have Urdu as the second language in academic curricula. The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) was set up under the Ministry of Education in 1996 to develop and propagate the Urdu language, including Arabic and Persian, in the country. The National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), with 887 centres nationwide, should include Urdu in its curricula. The recommendations of the Gujral Committee of 1979 to promote Urdu in education and social and cultural fields should be  re-examined in the present context. Our electronic media needs to be exceptionally linear in promoting “Spoken Hindustani”.

Col Ramesh Davesar is a Veteran who fought 1971 Indo-Pak War; had two years stint in the IPKF & commanded Battalion in the Valley; views are personal