Lesson 3

Unit Three

B.A/B.Com Hons II
Yr
CONCURRENT COUR

Course Coordinator
Sukrita Paul Kumar

UNIT THREE
Lesson 3: Language
Politics
Hina Nandrajog

1
 Unit 3: Language Politics: Hindi and Urdu

This unit will be projected in three lessons:

Prescribed Text: Cultural Diversity, Linguistic Plurality and Literary

Traditions in India. Eds. Kumar, Sukrita Paul, Vibha S. Chauhan & Bodh
Prakash. New Delhi: Macmillan, 2005. (Edited for the Department of
English, University of Delhi).

NOTE: The presentation of Unit 3 will be based on the prescribed

creative pieces in an integrated way with the theoretical essay by Amrit
Rai ‘Introduction: A Conspectus’ from A House Divided: The Origin and
Development of Hindi/ Hindavi. OUP, 1984, p. 1-8.

The third lesson will look at the causes for the split of the language into
Hindi and Urdu. It will also examine the language politics at the time of
independence and study Raghuvir Sahay’s, ‘Hindi’, tr. Harish Trivedi and
Daniel Weissbort, in K. Satchidanandan, ed., Signatures: One Hundred
Indian Poets, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2000, p. 167-68.

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 Unit 3: Language Politics: Hindi and Urdu

Contents of the lesson 3:

1. Objectives of Unit 3.

2. Introduction.

3.1 Hindi/ Urdu split: Divide and Rule?

3.2 Fort William College.
3.3 Hindi and Urdu: Now Two Languages?

4.1 Official Language of India.

4.2 Problems.
4.3 Hindi/ Other Indian Languages.
4.4 Which Hindi?

5.1 Raghuvir Sahay.

5.2 Insert audio of the poem
5.3 ‘Hindi’.

6.1 Concerns.

6.2 Eighth Schedule Languages.

6.3 Hindi/ Urdu Question.

7. A Reading List.

8.1 Points to ponder and some questions.

8.2 A Crossword Puzzle on Languages of India.

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 LANGUAGE POLITICS: HINDI AND URDU

1. Objectives of Unit 3 in Lessons 1, 2 and 3:

 Examine Hindi and Urdu debate as a sample of

linguistic politics.

 Discuss the common origin of Hindi and Urdu.

 Study their evolution.

 Examine the eclectic heritage of these languages.

 Discuss differences between Hindi and Urdu.

 Glimpse the political, historical and social factors

responsible for the split between Hindi and Urdu.

 Examine Hindi and Urdu as two independent languages

by the early twentieth century.

 Discuss the selection of an official language at the

time of independence of the country.

 Study the choice of Hindi and addition of English as

official languages.

2. Introduction:

In Lesson 1:

 Through a rendering of Rajinder Singh Bedi’s short Urdu

story, we saw the linkages of both languages – Hindi and Urdu.

In Lesson 2:

 We discussed the opinions on similarity of Hindi and Urdu.

 The genesis and development of Hindi and Urdu.

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  One of the earliest proponents of this language – Amir
Khusrau.

In Lesson 3:

 We shall study the social, political and historical factors for

the split into High Hindi and High Urdu.

 Discuss the selection of an official language for India.

In Lesson 1 we saw how Hindi and Urdu came to be perceived as two

different but similar languages, through a reading of Rajinder Singh Bedi’s
short Urdu story. Then in Lesson 2 we traced the common lineage and
development of these languages and studied an early example this language
through ‘Ghazal’ by Amir Khusrau.

In this lesson, we shall study the historical, social and political factors
that were responsible for the split of the earlier Hindavi/ Hinduwee into
Hindi and Urdu.

We shall also see how the selection of the official language for
independent India was a contested one. Raghuvir Sahay’s Hindi poem, titled
‘Hindi’ demonstrates the anguish of the poet regarding this issue. Even
though the official patronage accorded to the selected language/s offers
higher status to them, the multilinguality of the country does not get
imperiled due to the three-language formula adopted henceforth. Each
state of the country recognized its major language as the State’s official
language.

We must remember that the country was divided into different regions
on the basis of the main language spoken in the region. However, inevitably
this also generated politics amongst neighbourly languages, each striving
for greater recognition.

Hindi/ Urdu language politics may be seen as just one example of

language politics evidenced in the context of many other sister languages.

5
 3.1 The Hindi/ Urdu Split: Divide and Rule?

Note: Excerpts from ‘Introduction: A Conspectus’ (p. 1-8), by Amrit Rai in

his book, A House Divided: The Origin and Development of Hindi/Hindavi
(OUP, New Delhi, 1984) are given below in blue font and its salient
features are discussed and explained in greater detail alongside.

Along with examining the earliest origins of Hindi/Hindavi, Amrit Rai

attempts to carry out:

… a socio-linguistic inquiry into the causes that led, at some

point in time, to its division into two separate languages –
standard or High Hindi and standard or High Urdu as we know
them today, and as they are known in the Eighth Schedule of the
Indian Constitution.

… It is indeed difficult to conceive how two languages so closely

akin have drifted so far apart in their modern standard or ‘high’
forms as to become incomprehensible to each other. When was it
that they came to adopt their rigid and mutually exclusive
positions – of Arabo-Persian purism on the one hand and Sanskrit
purism on the other? In other words, when did Hindi/Hindavi split
or start splitting? May we understand the split as a natural course
of its development, governed by the internal dynamics of the
growth of a language, or as the result of extraneous, divisive forces
not really intrinsic to the language and its growth? This is a highly
pertinent question because if the answer is the former the inquiry
becomes one of merely academic, philological interest; but if the
latter, the findings may have some contemporary social import,
and an understanding of the past may hold some light for us today.

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/efi/lowres/efin90l.jpg
(Viewed on 08 May 2009 at 10:30 am)

6
 In other words, when and why did people’s perception of Hindi/ Urdu
undergo a change?

3.2 Fort William College:

The 19th Century map below indicates the location of Fort William
College:

http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/maps/calcgang19thcent.jpg
(Viewed on 08 May 2009 at 10:30 am)

According to Amrit Rai, the seeds of division of this eclectic language

lay in the British policy of divide and rule. He traces the defining role that
Fort William College, Calcutta played in it, where Sir John Gilchrist set up
departments of Urdu and Hindi in 1803 A.D. It is here that Hindi and Urdu
scholars tried to write in an idiom that was mutually exclusive – Hindi from
which Persian/Arabic words were to be weeded out, and Urdu from which
all Sanskrit words had been abolished. He concludes the ‘Introduction: A
Conspectus’ to A House Divided, by saying:

The way linguistic passions are working at the moment, dividing

protagonists of Hindi and Urdu into two enemy camps, is, to say
the least, alarming. Therefore the subject struck me, both as a
student of literature and as a writer of Hindi prose, as one of
exceeding importance. On the one hand linguistic purism blocks
the way to the healthy and natural growth of the two languages by
denying their essential unity, and on the other creates a dangerous

7
social tension. This seems to further underline the need for such
an inquiry.

However, before we embark on substantive linguistic research

on this subject it seems advisable to first look for the ‘extraneous
divisive force’ in the British colonial policy of divide and rule. This
is particularly necessary because of a general feeling among
protagonists of both Hindi and Urdu, from their respective angles,
that the divisive process started with Fort William College, where
Sir John Gilchrist, the bete noire of the Hindi world, set up Urdu
(in the name of ‘Hindoostanee’) against Hindi (Bhakha) and took
due care that they ran on two parallel, mutually exclusive lines.
Therefore the first clue for the probe lies in the direction of Fort
William College – in why it was founded and what its language
policy was.

http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/memo/sbarrackftwm.jpg
(Viewed on 08 May 2009 at 10:30 am)

For some more information, click:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William_College

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Calcutta

(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 01:05 pm)

To read more about the institution, click 3 hypl.1.doc.

Amrit Rai’s opinion is endorsed in the following extract:

8
 Historically, the consciousness of the divide may be
traced to the establishment of Fort William College
(henceforth, referred to as FWC). With its establishment,
process of divergence between Hindi and Urdu at the
linguistic, socio-cultural, and literary levels assumed a
new dimension. Khadi boli was communalized. Hindu and
Muslim writers from far-flung places were called to write
prose in two styles of Khadi boli by using two different
scripts: Devnagari and Perso-Arabic. While Lallu Lal and
Sadal Mishra were hired for writing Khadi boli prose in
the Devnagari script by using words of Sanskrit origin,
Meer Amman, Haidar Baksh Haidari, and Sher Ali 'Afsos'
were encouraged to write Khadi boli prose in the Perso-
Arabic script by using Perso-Arabic words. Prem Sagar
('The Ocean of Love') of Lallu Lall (which was begun in
1804 and completed in 1810) in Hindi and Bagh-o-Bahar
(published in 1803) of Meer Amman are the most
representative literary works of FWC.
http://www.languageinindia.com/march2003/hindustani.html
(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 01:07 pm)

There is, however, another facet of the story. Khari Boli was written in
Devnagari and Perso-Arabic script, but even at this time, the scholars
writing in either script did not necessarily belong to a particular religious
denomination. To quote the eminent Hindi critic and scholar, Prof. Namwar
Singh:

Needless to say that Hindustani language has been supported in a

strong way but the example of Insha Allah Khan’s “Rani Ketaki” has
something else to offer too. Talking about his language, Insha makes
the following comment in the beginning of his story “One day I was
suddenly possessed by an idea, that I should tell a story in which there
should neither be a departure from Hindi, nor a trace of any dialect;
only then would my heart bloom into a flower. There should not be any
intervention of any external/alien speech or rustic dialect. XXX, a very
senior, shrewd and old scholar from amongst my acquaintances,
persisted in his tune of doubt…it doesn’t look you will succeed in what
you plan. That the Hindiness be intact, and “Bhakhapan” (Sanskrit)
eliminated. That good people—the best of them—should continue to
converse amongst themselves—everything should remain the same
while there should be no one’s shadow from the outside. This will not
be possible.”

Actually, the language that Insha himself used for his own poetry
was totally different from the language of “Rani Ketaki ki Kahani”. He
wrote his couplets in the pure and proper Urdu of Lucknow, and in
Persian he wrote a book of prose such as Darya-e-Latafat. This is the

9
 very book in which he included the story of the creation of Urdu in
Shahjehanabad. He writes about the happy talkers/narrators who
agreed on picking up good words from many languages, and then
using and adapting them in writings/narratives, they created a new
language, different from other languages, which they called Urdu. One
other title of “Rani Ketaki ki Kahani” is “Udaybhan Charit”. The
language is Hindi but it has been written in the Urdu script.
Subsequently, it was published in both Hindi and Urdu scripts
alternatively. In 1925, Babu Shyam Sunder Das published it in Hindi
from Nagri Pracharini Sabha, and Maulavi Abdul Haq edited it in 1926
and published it in “Risala-e-Urdu” of Aurangabad. Finally in 1974, Dr
Abdul Sattar published it in both the scripts from Mahatma Gandhi
Memorial Centre, Bombay. Clearly, Insha Allah Khan knew about
languages called Persian, Urdu and Hindi but he himself was not
familiar with Hindustani. [Namwar Singh, ‘Urdu and its Linguistic
Identity (with reference to Hindi), trans. Sukrita Paul Kumar. 'Zakir
Husain Memorial Lecture' in Hindi at Zakir Husain College, University of
Delhi, on Feb 26, 2001.]

3.3 Hindi and Urdu: Now Two Languages?

The process initiated at that point in time gradually led Hindi/Urdu to

be perceived as two languages – Hindi and Urdu – by the early twentieth
century. There was still similarity in form and spirit, as demonstrated in
Lesson 1, in Rajinder Singh Bedi’s short story written in the middle of the
twentieth century. Those writing in Devnagari script came to be known as
‘Hindi writers’ and those who wrote in the Persian script were called ‘Urdu
writers’. Though the literature written in different scripts was given
different denominations, yet the spoken language was still a blend of the
two – with vocabulary drawn from both ‘Hindi’ and ‘Urdu’ and was commonly
referred to as Hindustani, (different from ‘Hindi Bhakha’, as Amrit Rai has
pointed out above.)

Linguistic engineering is often undertaken at the behest

of a select social elite either to appropriate political
power or to maintain the status quo. In such cases, a
premium is always placed on the language of the social
elite. The emergence of separatist tendencies in linguistic
engineering not only created the 'Muslim-Urdu' and 'Hindi-
Urdu' equation, but also set into motion forces of
Sanskritization and Perso-Arabicization within the secular
Hindu world and Muslim world.
http://www.languageinindia.com/march2003/hindustani.html
Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 01:07 pm)

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4.1 Official Language/s of India:

The independence of the country was a time when the incendiary issue
of the selection of the official language engulfed the whole nation. The
Indian subcontinent has always been abundantly multilingual; and this
posed a problem in choosing an official language.

Urdu had been declared the official language of the newly formed
Pakistan.

Specifically, the presumption that Urdu was the obvious national

language of the region's Muslims was the outcome of two intertwined
phenomena: the geographical base of the Muslim League's primary
support, and the pre-history of what became known as the "Hindi-Urdu
controversy." Up until 1946 the primary support for the Muslim League's
Pakistan demand was located in the North-West Provinces, termed the
"Muslim minority" provinces. This was the very same territory of the
contentious Hindi-Urdu controversy that took place in the second half of the
nineteenth century. This meant that a salient political issue for Muslims in
the region was the "protection" of Urdu, even though Muslims in the vast
expanse of British India and the various princely states obviously spoke a
wide variety of other languages…. Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide, African
Heritage, Mesopotamian Roots, Indian Culture & British Colonialism Abdul Jamil
Khan http://soc.world-journal.net/20sept2007.html
(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 01:07 pm)

… Premchand, the one who wrote both in Urdu and Hindi and who
was respected equally as the most eminent storyteller in both the
languages…. lectured on the issues of national language, Quami Zuban
and Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani. Later, all these lectures were collected and
published as a small book entitled Kuchh Vichar (Some Thoughts).
Some issues have been taken up in these lectures repeatedly in
different ways, with emphasis on different issues in different contexts.
In his essay called “Urdu, Hindi and Hindustani,” he has clearly said,
“The national language of Bharatvarsh is neither Urdu nor Hindi; but it
is Hindustani which is understood everywhere in Hindustan and is
spoken in a very large area. And yet it is not the written language
anywhere. And, if someone tries to write in it, the litterateurs of Hindi
and Urdu outcaste him. In reality what is obstructive for the progress
of Hindi and Urdu is their own distinguished lover. Whether we write
Urdu or Hindi, we do not write for the common folk—we write for a
limited class of people.” In his typically humorous style, he continues
to make his point through examples: “They love “manushya” but they
hate “aadmi”, even though the word “darkhwast’ is commonly used by

11
people, for them its use is out of question. They wish to substitute it
with “prarthna patr” even if people do not understand the word. In no
way can they accept “isteefa”—in its place, they want to use
“tyagpatr”. No matter how easily “hawaijahaz” may be understood, but
they’d like to fly by a “vayuyan”. Urduwallahs are even more
possessed by this tendency. They believe in “Khuda” but will not
accept “Ishwar”. They commit a number of “kusoor” but never an
“aparadh”. While they like “khidmat” very much, they cannot stand
“seva.” In this way we have created two separate camps for Hindi and
Urdu. And no one from one camp can dare step into the other camp.
[Namwar Singh, ‘Urdu and its Linguistic Identity (with reference to Hindi), trans.
Sukrita Paul Kumar. 'Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture' in Hindi at Zakir Husain College,
University of Delhi, on Feb 26, 2001.]

Parliamentary debates took place on the issue of which language was

best suited to be declared as the official language of the nation. Several
leaders, even those whose mother tongue was not Hindi, such as Mahatma
Gandhi and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, favoured the choice of Hindi as
the official language of India. Since Hindi seemed to be the spoken
language in the widest area in India, this appeared to be a logical choice.

12
 See the map below that looks at the language belts at that time.

*How the language map looked to Constable, in 1893*

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~poyntz/India/maps.html#area

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/overview/languages/languages.html

A language map from "A Historical Atlas of South Asia," Oxford University Press
(New York), 1992, courtesy of Himal Magazine. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u7MaPZVBoag/R-
Gwt0EYjyI/AAAAAAAACDc/SAQsr9KjN44/s400/himal1992max.jpg

(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:12 pm)

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4.2 Problems:

The problems with choosing Hindi were:

 Hindi was not the richest of Indian languages, nor the most
ancient.

 Hindi’s claim to be the national language was hotly contested in

the non-Hindi speaking regions. Vociferous claims for recognition
and selection were made on behalf of different languages of the
subcontinent.

 Since Hindi was neither spoken nor understood in several parts of

the country, how would it reach out to the entire non-Hindi
speaking belt?

 Which Hindi would be chosen from among the many dialects?

Would it be the language of the common people in the northern
region (which was synonymous with Urdu, despite the different
script), or a ‘purified’ Sanskritized Hindi?

 Would English be abolished altogether or retained for official use

in the country?

Ultimately:

Hindi, written in Devnagari script, was declared to be the official

language of India on the 14th of September, 1949.

To ensure the reach of a common language in non-Hindi speaking

areas, English was retained and declared as an additional official
language initially for a period of fifteen years.

1. The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devnagari script. The
form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the
international form of Indian numerals.
2. Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a period of fifteen years from
the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be

14
used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used
immediately before such commencement: Provided that the President may, during
the said period, by order authorize the use of the Hindi language in addition to the
English language and of the Devnagari form of numerals in addition to the
international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the
Union.
3. Notwithstanding anything in this article, Parliament may by law provide
for the use, after the said period of fifteen years, of-
a. the English language, or
b. the Devnagari form of numerals, for such purposes as may be
specified in the law.

http://www.languageinindia.com/april2002/constitutionofindia.html :
(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:13 pm)

We must remember, however, that in fact, what is marginalized as a

dialect, may be the most popular language of communication in a region with
its own history of literary production. Some languages enjoy a historically
and politically empowered status, while others get devalued as mere
dialects. In the case of Hindi itself, from amongst at least fifty variants,
after all only one kind of Hindi was selected.

The 1911 Census of India considers 'Hindi' as 'a

comprehensive word which includes at least three distinct
languages, Western Hindi, Eastern Hindi and Bihari'.
Hindustani which was a major component of Hindi and part
of the Constitution of India played an important role in
the movement for the independence of India as a link
language. Unfortunately, the same has vanished from the
linguistic demography of India in the records and
publications of the 1991 Census! [Fifty Years of Language Planning
for Modern Hindi : the Official Language of India by B. Mallikarjun, Language in
India, vol. 4: 11 November 2004.

http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2004/hindiurdu1.jpg
&imgrefurl=http://www.languageinindia.com/nov2004/mallikarjunmalaysiapaper1.html&h=299&w=425
&sz=24&hl=en&start=6&um=1&usg=__E41IrGBAMziIrQq77MKwwu7kVSo=&tbnid=if0eJGRCJWX
X_M:&tbnh=89&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddakhini%2BHindi%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%2
6sa%3DN] (Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:14 pm)

15
 NOTE: However, even if just for namesake, there are two
institutions in India for Hindustani even now, one is Allahabad’s
“Hindustani Akademy” run by the State government, and the second
one—Bombay’s autonomous institution “Hindustani Prachar Sabha”
which brings out, even now, a magazine called “Hindustani Zuban”
regularly, both in Hindi as well as Urdu languages in their own scripts.
And yet, the truth is that Hindustani is now a thing of the past. Then,
what is the purpose of narrating this story in such a detailed way?
“Kuredate ho jo ab rakh justajoo kya hai?” (When you are raking up
the ashes now, what exactly are you looking for?) What I am
searching for is an explanation for the fate of Hindustani. Does that
history teach us any lesson? It is up to us to learn or not to learn it. As
it is, these days a lot of interest in history is being demonstrated.
Digging is going on even where it should not be. Nevertheless. [Namwar
Singh, ‘Urdu and its Linguistic Identity (with reference to Hindi), trans. Sukrita Paul
Kumar. 'Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture' in Hindi at Zakir Husain College, University of
Delhi, on Feb 26, 2001.]

There are many languages that may vanish if adequate recognition is

not accorded to them.

The following postcard written in Modi language (combination of

Gujarati, Marathi and Rajasthani) is an example of a language that has
almost vanished.

Post Card sent by Bhakrat Chand

from Chhabraha to Kuchaman

September 9, 1905

http://www.harappa.com/post/card1.html
(Viewed on 08 May 2009 at 10:31 am)

To read the translation of the text, click 3 hypl.2.doc.

16
 4.3 Hindi / Other Indian Languages:

Hindi’s claim to be the official language had also been hotly contested in
the non-Hindi speaking regions.

It would be useful to read the following excerpt:

While census data on Hindi speakers showed it to be the most widely

spoken language in India, it could never claim more than forty percent of the
population, and even this claim might well have been an artifact of the practice
of census-taking and language nominalization-for the process would collapse
speakers of many different speech-forms (dialects or languages) into the
category of Hindi. (See Arjun Appadurai, "Number in the Colonial Imagination," in
Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament, ed. Carol A Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer,
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993).

In addition to Hindi, twelve other modern languages with extensive literary

traditions and millions of speakers posed something of a hurdle to any
presumptive declaration of Hindi as a national language in the singular. What
the constitution makers chose as a compromise formulation was a sort of
three-tier amalgament: legally, "Hindi in the Devnagari script" was enshrined as
the "official language," with a safety-valve provisions for the use of English until
Hindi could be properly "developed" to assume all official and link functions
after a period of fifteen years. But this was a decision reached only after
significant debate, and only by the thinnest of margins according to the
testimony of the chairman of the constitution drafting committee, Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar: It may now not be a breach of a secret if I reveal to the public what
happened in the Congress Party meeting when the Draft Constitution of India
was being considered, on the issue of adopting Hindi as the national language.
There was no article which proved more controversial than Article 115 which
deals with the question. No article produced more opposition. No article, more
heat. After a prolonged discussion when the question was put, the vote was 78
against 78. The tie could not be resolved. After a long time when the question
was put to the Party meeting the result was 77 against 78 for Hindi. Hindi won
its place as a national language by one vote. (Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide,
African Heritage, Mesopotamian Roots, Indian Culture & British Colonialism by Abdul
Jamil Khan) (indiacode.nic.inlcoiweb/coifiles/pI7.html) http://soc.world-journal.net/20sept2007.html

Supporters of several other languages launched agitations to prevent

Hindi from being the sole official language. The extract quoted above, goes
on to tell us:

17
 By the time the first fifteen years of constitutionally-permitted English use
were about to expire, unexpectedly violent protest against Hindi took place.
This resistance was strongest in Madras state, where in 1964 and 1965 several
young men spectacularly killed themselves (by self-immolation and drinking
poison) in protest against Hindi and in devotion to Tamil. Such objections were
not limited to Tamil speakers alone; Bengal and Mysore states, and the then-
autonomous Government of Kashmir had serious reservations about Hindi
assuming sole status of official language. (For details, see Ramaswamy,
Passions of the Tongue.) (Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide, African Heritage,
Mesopotamian Roots, Indian Culture & British Colonialism by Abdul Jamil Khan)
(indiacode.nic.inlcoiweb/coifiles/pI7.html)
http://soc.world-journal.net/20sept2007.html
(Viewed on 12 June 2009 at 02:56 pm)

4.4 Which Hindi?:

A crucial question to understand the status of Hindi and Urdu in our

country today is: Which Hindi? An egalitarian mode of the language was
advocated, but was that really implemented practically?

An appreciation of difficulties of this kind led the

Indian National Congress to adopt Hindustani as the
national language of India. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,
perceiving clearly the implications of the situation,
asserted: "I have no doubt in my mind that Hindi and Urdu
must come nearer to each other, and though they may wear
different garbs, will be essentially one language." A
desire to put an end to the estrangement between the two
communities actuated Mahatma Gandhi recently to say: "I
would like to form an association advocating the learning
of both forms of speech and both the scripts by its
members, and carrying on propaganda to that end, in the
hope finally of a natural fusion of the two becoming a
common inter-provincial speech called Hindustani. Then the
question would be not Hindustani=Hindi+Urdu, but
Hindustani=Hindi=Urdu." (The Problem of Hindustani (1944) by Tara Chand.

http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/09/14LelyveldZuban.pdf (Viewed on 12 June 2009 at 02:57

PM)

Hindi, as was intelligible to a large number of people was quite different

in character from the Hindi that began to be used for officialese. While
leaders such as Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi exhorted the use of
Hindi/ Hindustani (also synonymous with Urdu) that was understood by a

18
large number of people; by then, the legacy of Fort William College had
divided the two languages into ‘High Hindi’ (with Persian-Arabic words
weeded out and replaced with Sanskritic words) and ‘High Urdu’ (with a
great number of Persian-Arabic words). Official Hindi became somewhat
incomprehensible to many as it became far removed from the living, spoken
language.

Eminent scholar, Tara Chand addressed this problem:

The Problem of Hindustani (1944) by Tara Chand

It is this growing consciousness of a common culture which must inspire,

more and more, the literary creations of India, whatever the idiom used—
Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, or Hindustani.

Let us then not lay too much stress on the differing cultural atmospheres of
Urdu and Hindi. On the other hand, let us consider the practical consequences
of a policy which inspires coiners of technical terms like the following:

English Hindi Urdu

Abscissa Bhuj Fasla or Maqtua

Absolute Term Param Pad Raqam Mutlaq

Accelerate Gati vriddhi karna Isra-i-harakat

Algebra Bijganit Jabr-o-muqabala

Alternando Ekantar nish-patti Tabdil

Antecedent Purva pad Mukaddam

“I have taken these from the dictionaries of technical terms issued by the
Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Benares, and the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu,
Aurangabad. They are a sample of the terms used in Algebra, and they show
what a wide gulf is being created between the two forms of Hindustani by their
adoption.” http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/09/14LelyveldZuban.pdf
(Viewed on 12 June 2009 at 02:58 pm)

The intention was to use Hindi/Hindustani in Devnagari script instead of

the Persian. But rather than just changing the script, the vocabulary too
was transformed. This ignored the fact that languages are dynamic
structures that borrow, adopt and adapt unrepentantly from all other

19
languages that they come in contact with. Any form of unnatural
straitjacketing of a language freezes its organic growth.

5.1 Raghuvir Sahay:

Raghuvir Sahay, a sensitive writer, was distressed by the heat

generated over this issue of the official language. He was in favour of
adopting Hindi as opposed to English and felt that the retention of the
latter language was symptomatic of a slave mentality. He was equally
sure that the Hindi that was to become the official language of the
nation must be one that was close to the idiom of the spoken language.
He was in favour of the Hindustani of the masses rather than the ‘high
Hindi’ of the elite. His sense of betrayal is clear from the poem
‘Hindi’.

http://www.abhivyakti-hindi.org/lekhak/r/images/raghuvir_sahay.jpg
(Viewed on 08 May 2009 at 10:33 am)

To know more about the author, click 3 hypl.3.doc.

The poem ‘Hindi’ was written soon after Independence and is political in
nature. It is open to different responses and reactions. Let us read the
poem to gauge the sense of hurt and resentment that this decision
generated.

5.2 Audio of the poem in Hindi: Click Icon

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 5.3 The poem ‘Hindi’:

‘Hindi’

We were fighting

a language battle to change society.

The poet feels that decolonization and freedom from British rule should
also mean freedom from the colonial tongue. Only then would there be a
transformation of society.

But the question of Hindi is no longer simply a question

of Hindi – we have lost out.

The poet sees the question of Hindi not just as a language issue, but as
one that defines their identity as a people. He laments that their demand
for the right kind of language has not been taken into account.

O good soldier,

know when you’re beaten.

And now, that question

which we just referred to in connection with the so-

called

language battle,

Can you tell what that question is?

let’s put it this way:

Were we and those on behalf of whom we fought

the same folk?

These lines reflect his sense of betrayal. He laments the disconnect

between the policy makers and the people on whose behalf the battle for
Hindi was being fought, i.e. the common folk.

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 Or were we, in fact, the agents of our oppressors –

sympathetic, well-meaning, well-schooled agents?

Those the masters are slaves.

Their slaves are those who are not masters.

He questions whether in fighting to keep Hindi as the official language,

they might have inadvertently helped the new ‘rulers’. Those who wished to
retain English belonged to an elite class that was still mentally colonized;
and were successful in manipulating events to their advantage.

He also talks about the Hindi that ought to be used – a popular Hindi
that the masses understand, and not an elite idiom that is largely
incomprehensible. At this level, those advocating a ‘pure’ Hindi were guilty
of coveting power and influence over the governance of the country and
excluding the masses from real participation in the democracy.

If Hindi belongs to masters,

then in what language shall we fight for freedom?

He regrets that since the language of the elite – be it English or ‘High

Hindi’ – is retained, the people would need to search for another medium to
express their views and fight for their freedom from oppression.

The demand for Hindi

is now a demand

for better treatment –

not rights –

put by the agents

to their slave masters.

The poet feels that Hindi has surrendered its sole right to be the
language of the people, and in that, it will remain forever dependent on the
generosity of English for its own space. Similarly, even the High Hindi that
is increasingly being used will perpetuate class divide.

They use Hindi in place of English,

while the fact is

that their masters

22
 use English in place of Hindi –

the two of them have struck a deal.

The poet equates English and High Hindi as almost synonymous in

purpose. He fears that the elite languages and the idiom of the masses will
now be forever locked in this hierarchy.

He who exposes this hypocrisy

will dispose of Hindi’s slavery.

This will be the one who, when he speaks Hindi,

will show us what simple folk really feel.

The poet believes that the one who succeeds in unmasking the real
intention of those using either English or High Hindi would be the one to
liberate the language from its slavery to an oppressive mentality and truly
set people free in independent India.

(Raghuvir Sahay, ‘Hindi’, translated from the original

Hindi by Harish Trivedi and Daniel Weissbort, in K. Satchidanandan, ed., Signatures:
One Hundred Indian Poets, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2000. p. 167-67.)

6.1 Concerns:

At one level, it is imperative to have a link language/s across the

country. Though it is undeniable that official patronage for both Hindi and
English has impacted the other languages of India, the deep roots of
multilinguality in this country have not seen much damage to other
languages. To ensure that the imposition of a certain language does not
adversely affect languages of other regions, or to minimize the damage,
states have adopted a three-tier language model – English, Hindi and a
regional language in our education system. Language hierarchies have come
into play even in choosing state languages in privileging one over the other.
This has certainly worked as an aid to sustain multilinguality in the region.
The Indian Constitution also recognizes the fundamental right of an
individual to protect one’s language.

Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of

India or any part thereof having a distinct language,
script or culture of its own shall have the right to
conserve the same.

http://www.languageinindia.com/april2002/constitutionofindia.html

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 (Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:16 pm)

The deep hold of the mother tongue over one’s culture and formation of
identity is also visible in the debates that raged over the reorganization of
states on a linguistic basis, a demand that the Indian government finally
acceded to in 1956. Subsequently, too, other states were carved out on a
linguistic basis.

Government finally appointed a State Reorganization Commission (SRC) in 1954

with Justice Fazl Ali as Chairman and Hriday Nath Kunzru and K.M.Pannikar as
members. By and large the SRC recommended creation of states taking into consideration
the preservation of the unity and security of the nation, linguistic and cultural affinity of
the people and financial, economic and administrative viability.

Against the recommendation of 16 states and three centrally administered territories

by the SRC, the Government implemented the recommendation in 1956 after approving
14 states including Andhra Pradesh, which was created earlier in 1953 and six centrally
administered territories. The reorganization of states however, could hardly satisfy the
people of various segments of Indian society and demands for further new states based on
linguistic, ethnic and some other considerations became a part of the polity.

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers2/paper142.html

(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:15 pm)

6.2 Eighth Schedule Languages:

The Constitution (One-Hundredth Amendment) Bill, 2003 passed by both the

houses of the Parliament widened the berth to include Bodo, Santali, Maithili, and
Dogri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution taking the number of official
languages to 22.

http://www.languageinindia.com/jan2004/langnewsjan2004.html

(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:16 pm)

Can you make a list of the eighteen other languages given in the Eighth
Schedule of the Indian Constitution?

6.3 Hindi/ Urdu Question:

Hindi/ Urdu debates have been discussed in this Unit to sensitize

ourselves to the bearing that the issue of language has on our culture and
identity as a people. In an increasingly globalized world, monolingualism
seems to be a desirable goal as a stepping-stone to material success.
However, the alienation from one’s language and the subsequent alienation

24
from one’s roots has wider social and cultural, and inevitably, political
consequences. As far as the Hindi/Urdu debate is concerned, in India,
Hindi has gained ground by being declared the official language of the
country, but Urdu has suffered despite its status as a scheduled language.
The following two quotes voice this concern:

As Hindi became a more potent sociopolitical force, Urdu speakers

felt themselves under attack. Urdu then became a language in need of
"defending," a language represented by its partisan proponents as a
core aspect of Muslim life itself. The Hindi-Urdu Controversy in north
India, in conjunction with movements for religious reformation within
Hinduism and Islam slightly predating and continuing during the
same period, participated in community schismogenesis, a process
which at its end points, would result in the complete association of
Urdu with Islam and Hindi with Hinduism. Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide,
African Heritage, Mesopotamian Roots, Indian Culture & British Colonialism Abdul Jamil
Khan

http://soc.world-journal.net/20sept2007.html
(Viewed on 11 June 200 9 at 02:18 pm)

Urdu, when situated in the private institution of the

Urdu-speaking family, marks an impossible "culturally
schizophrenic situation." (Ahmad 1989). This situation has
arisen because Urdu has been relegated to the private
sphere of family, and, therefore, on the one hand, there
is clamour from the Urdu-speaking family to send their
children to learn Urdu for cultural reproduction, while on
the other hand, the market forces have reduced the
importance of Urdu. A kind of linguicism has set in, where
both the parents as well as the children feel that there
is really no incentive to learn Urdu. Linguistic
engineering is often undertaken at the behest of a select
social elite either to appropriate political power or to
maintain the status quo. In such cases, a premium is
always placed on the language of the social elite. The
emergence of separatist tendencies in linguistic
engineering not only created the 'Muslim-Urdu' and 'Hindi-
Urdu' equation, but also set into motion forces of
Sanskritization and Perso-Arabicization within the secular
Hindu world and Muslim world.

http://www.languageinindia.com/march2003/hindustani.html

(Viewed on 11 June 2009 at 02:20 pm)

25
 As the eminent linguist, Prof. Anvita Abbi says, languages are
ecosystems. Loss of understanding of our environment leads to loss of
language. Loss of language is a loss of beliefs, values and knowledge. This
leads to a loss of way of being a human system – and therefore, less
tolerance.

Note: As the vocabulary, idioms, metaphors and other forms of

expression flow easily from one another, linguistic or cultural insularity
does not built up. Urdu and Marathi for instance have had a long history of
a shared existence in Aurangabad. While the culture of Urdu has become a
part of everyday Marathi, Qazi Saleem, an Urdu poet from the region,
frequently uses Marathi vocabulary in his works. Similarly, Dakhini, an early
form of Urdu popular in Hyderabad has freely borrowed Telegu terms and
literary traditions even as Dakkhani culture has seeped into Telugu
particularly in Hyderabad and the surrounding areas. (Sukrita Paul Kumar)

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26
 7. A Reading List:

On Hindi before the nation, see

Vasudha Dalmia. The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu

Harischandra and Nineteenth-century Banaras (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1997).

Christopher R. King. One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in

Nineteenth Century North India. (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1994).

Stuart McGregor, "The Progress of Hindi, Part 1: The Development of a

Transregional Idiom," in Literary Cultures in History. ed. Sheldon Pollock
(Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2003).

Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India. 201-32,

Alok Rai, "Making a Difference: Hindi, 1880-1930," Annual of Urdu Studies 10

(1995).

Amrit Rai, A House Divided: The Origin and Development of Hindi/Hindavi

(Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1984).

On Urdu before the nation, see

Brass. Language, Religion and Politics in North India. 119-81.

Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Early Urdu Literary Culture and History. (Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2001).

Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, "A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture. Part 1:
Naming and Placing a Literary Culture," in Literary Cultures in History. ed.
Sheldon Pollock (Berkeley, London, New York: University of California Press,
2003),

Ayesha Jalal. Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian
Islam Since 1850. (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), 102-38.

Francis Robinson. Separatism among Indian Muslims: the politics of the

United Provinces' Muslims, 1860-1923. vol. 16, Cambridge South Asian Series
(London: Cambridge University Press, 1974), 33-132.

On Hindi after the nation. see

Alok Rai, Hindi Nationalism. (New Delhi: Orient Longman. 2000).

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 Harish Trivedi, "The Progress of Hindi, Part 2: Hindi and the Nation," in
Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. ed. Sheldon Pollock
(Berkeley, Los Angeles. London: University of California Press, 2(03).

On Urdu after the nation, see

Ahmad, "Some Reflections on Urdu.", Aijaz Ahmed. “In the Mirror of Urdu:
Recompositions of Nation and Community, 1947-65;' in Lineages of the Present:
Political Essays (Delhi: Tulika Press. 1993 [1996]),

Philip Oldenburg, "'A Place Insufficiently Imagined': Language, Belief, and the
Pakistan Crisis of 1971," Journal of Asian Studies 44. no. 4 (1985),

Tariq Rahman, "The Urdu-English Controversy in Pakistan," Modern Asian

Studies 31, no. I (1997).

Source: Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide, African Heritage, Mesopotamian Roots, Indian

Culture & British Colonialism Abdul Jamil Khan http://soc.world-journal.net/20sept2007.html

28
 8.1 Points to ponder and some questions:

1. When do you think the language began to split?

2. What role did Fort William College play in creating the perception of
Hindi and Urdu as two different languages?

3.How do you react to the decision taken to make Hindi the national
language?

4. Do you think retaining English as an additional official language was a

good idea?

5. How does this impact the different mother tongues of the

subcontinent?

6. Discuss Raghuvir Sahay’s poem Hindi as a poem about language politics.

7. Why does Raghuvir Sahay feel betrayed by his own people?

8. Does Raghuvir Sahay’s poem ‘Hindi’ make you feel nostalgic about any
language?

9. What are the connotations of the expressions ‘mother tongue” and

“dialect”?

10. What does Raghubir Sahay say in the poem ‘Hindi’ in the following
lines?

They use Hindi in place of English,

while the fact is
that their masters
use English in place of Hindi –
the two of them have struck a deal.

(i) Who is the author of this poem and what is the original language in
which it is written?
(ii) Who is the author referring to?
(iii) What is the political position that the author takes with regard to
the question of language?

29
8.2 A Crossword Puzzle on Languages of India:

Across

2 Spoken in the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Jharkhand.

4 Spoken by Panini and Patanjali, this language is ideal for computers because of its
precise grammar. (8)
7 Italian of the east. (6)
8 Maithili Sharan Gupta wrote his poems in this language. (5)
10 Purandara Dasa composed his devotional songs in this language. (7)
13 Spoken in Shaniwarpet and Budhwarpet, for example. (7)
16 One of the state languages of J&K. (5)
17 Also known as Meithei. (8)
18 You might be asking for mishti dahi in this language. (7)
19 Now the second most commonly used language in the U.K. (7)
20 The oldest language in India, at least to its practitioners. (5)

Down

1 A sea mess from Magadha. (8)

2 Spoken along the Indus delta, originally, and now in pockets all over India. (6)
3 Mirza Ghalib wrote his poems in this language. (4)
5 Derived from 4 across and spoken along the Zuari river. (7)
6 The mother-tongue of Shri Mohandas K. Gandhi. (8)
9 The main spoken language of Lakshadweep Islands. (9)
11 Spoken infrequently now along the LOC. (8)
12 You can learn this language in the University of Guwahati. (4)

30
13 Also a name of Sita, the consort of the Rama. (8)
14 Spoken along Chilka lake. (5)
15 Language of the great mountains. (6)

For the solution, click 3 hypl.4.doc

Source: http://indiaref.net/ [You can click the site for some more interesting puzzles.]

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