Origins Urdu is a part of the Hindi–Urdu linguistic continuum, which is commonly referred to as
Hindustani in contemporary usage. Some linguists have suggested that the earliest forms of Urdu evolved from the medieval (6th to 13th century)
Apabhraṃśa register of the preceding
Shauraseni language, a
Middle Indo-Aryan language that is also the ancestor of other modern Indo-Aryan languages. In the Delhi region of India, the native language was
Khariboli, whose earliest form is known as
Old Hindi (or Hindavi). It belongs to the
Western Hindi group of the Central Indo-Aryan languages. The
contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures during the period of
Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent (12th to 16th centuries) led to the development of Hindustani as a product of a composite
Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. In cities such as Delhi, the ancient language Old Hindi began to acquire many
Persian loanwords and continued to be called "Hindi" and later, also "Hindustani". who has been called "the father of Urdu literature". After the conquest of the
Deccan, and a subsequent immigration of noble Muslim families into the south, a form of the language flourished in
medieval India as a vehicle of poetry, (especially under the
Bahmanids), and is known as
Dakhini, which contains loanwords from
Telugu and
Marathi. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century, the language now known as Urdu was called
Hindi,
Dihlawi,
Lahori, The
Delhi Sultanate established Persian as its official language in India, a policy continued by the
Mughal Empire, which extended over most of northern South Asia from the 16th century to the 18th, and cemented Persian influence on Hindustani. By the end of the reign of
Aurangzeb in the early 1700s, the common language around Delhi began to be referred to as
Zaban-e-Urdu, a name derived from the
Turkic word
ordu (army) or
orda and is said to have arisen as the "language of the camp", or "
Zaban-i-Ordu" means "
Language of High camps" or natively "
Lashkari Zaban" means "
Language of Army" even though the term
Urdu held different meanings at that time. It is recorded that Aurangzeb spoke in Hindvi, which was most likely Persianised, as there are substantial evidence that Hindvi was written in the Persian script in this period. During this time period, Urdu was referred to as "Moors", which simply meant Muslim, by European writers. John Ovington wrote in 1689: The language of the Moors is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India but is obliged to these Gentiles for its characters. For though the
Moors dialect is peculiar to themselves, yet it is destitute of Letters to express it; and therefore, in all their Writings in their Mother Tongue, they borrow their letters from the Heathens, or from the Persians, or other Nations. In 1715, a complete literary Diwan in Rekhta was written by
Nawab Sadruddin Khan. An Urdu-Persian dictionary was written by Khan-i Arzu in 1751 in the reign of
Ahmad Shah Bahadur. The name
Urdu was first introduced by the poet
Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. While Urdu retained the grammar and core Indo-Aryan vocabulary of the local Indian dialect Khariboli, it adopted the Perso-Arab writing system, written in the
Nastaleeq style. – which was developed as a style of Persian calligraphy. Urdu was patronised by the
Nawab of Awadh and in
Lucknow, the language was refined, being not only spoken in the court, but by the common people in the city—both Hindus and Muslims; the city of Lucknow gave birth to Urdu prose literature, with a notable novel being
Umrao Jaan Ada.
Other historical names Throughout the history of the language, Urdu has been referred to by several other names: Hindi, Hindavi, Rekhta, Urdu-e-Muallah,
Dakhini, Moors and
Dehlavi. In 1773, the Swiss French soldier
Antoine Polier notes that the English liked to use the name "Moors" for Urdu: I have a deep knowledge [
je possède à fond] of the common tongue of India, called
Moors by the English, and
Ourdouzebain by the natives of the land. Several works of Sufi writers like
Ashraf Jahangir Semnani used similar names for the Urdu language. Shah
Abdul Qadir Raipuri was the first person who translated The Quran into Urdu. During Shahjahan's time, the Capital was relocated to Delhi and named
Shahjahanabad and the Bazar of the town was named Urdu e Muallah. In the
Akbar era, the word Rekhta was used to describe Urdu for the first time. It was originally a Persian word that meant "to create a mixture".
Amir Khusrau was the first person to use the same word for Poetry.
Colonial period Before the standardisation of Urdu into colonial administration, British officers often referred to the language as "
Moors" or "Moorish jargon".
John Gilchrist was the first in British India to begin a systematic study on Urdu and began to use the term "Hindustani" what the majority of Europeans called "Moors", authoring the book ''The Strangers's East Indian Guide to the Hindoostanee or Grand Popular Language of India (improperly Called Moors)''. Urdu was promoted in colonial India by British policies to counter the previous emphasis on Persian, and the language also gained official status in colonial India because it was the language of the Muslim elite (such as
Nawabs and
Zamindars). Religious, social, and political factors arose during the
European colonial period in India that advocated a distinction between Urdu and Hindi, leading to the
Hindi–Urdu controversy. In colonial India, ordinary Muslims and Hindus alike spoke the same language in the
United Provinces in the nineteenth century, namely Hindustani, whether called by that name or whether called Hindi, Urdu, or one of the regional dialects such as
Braj or
Awadhi. Elites from Muslim communities, as well as a minority of Hindu elites, such as
Munshis of Hindu origin, wrote the language in the Perso-Arabic script in courts and government offices, though Hindus continued to employ the Devanagari script in certain literary and religious contexts. Through the late 19th century, people did not view Urdu and Hindi as being two distinct languages, though in urban areas, the standardised Hindustani language was increasingly being referred to as Urdu and written in the Perso-Arabic script. Urdu and English replaced
Persian as the official languages in northern parts of India in 1837. Hindus in northwestern India, under the
Arya Samaj agitated against the sole use of the Perso-Arabic script and argued that the language should be written in the native
Devanagari script, which triggered a backlash against the use of Hindi written in Devanagari by the Anjuman-e-Islamia of Lahore. Proponents of Hindi over Urdu as an authorised language also had to take into account the existence of numerous provincial languages such as Awadhi, Braj Bhasha, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, and Maithili, which were considered a part of older Hindi, but which would problematise dialogues for an official, modern standard Hindi.
Modern Standard Hindi did not emerge before the 20th century. The recognition of the Hindi script as an official script of courts in North India in 1900 was a key juncture in the evolution of Hindi-based language nationalism. Hindi, which was still not altogether standardised by the 1910s, and which had hitherto been considered an unrefined language was strictly patrolled to deliver a Sanskritic lexicon that did not permit influence of Urdu to be evident,
Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi notably preparing the spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary of Modern Standard Hindi. The
Hindi–Urdu controversy in 1867, highlighted the linguistic and cultural divide between Hindus and Muslims in British India, with Urdu emerging as a symbol of the linguistic pride of Indian Muslims. This division played an important role in the political movement of Muslims, eventually leading to the formation of the
All-India Muslim League in 1906, whose formation eventually resulted in the creation of Pakistan, as a separate Muslim state in the Indian subcontinent. The controversy began to emerge when certain Hindu leaders and organisations, including the Banaras Institute and the Allahabad Institute, advocated for replacing Urdu with Hindi as the official language. This firm stance contributed to prompting
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan—who was an advocate of the Hindu-Muslim unity, but later known as the 'Father of
Two-nation theory'—to advocate for the use of Urdu. He regarded Urdu as a symbol of Muslim heritage in the Indian subcontinent. Sir Syed also considered Urdu "a common legacy of Hindus and Muslims", and supported the use of Urdu through his writings. Under Sir Syed, the
Scientific Society of Aligarh translated Western works only into Urdu. The
Urdu movement, which was a sociopolitical movement aimed at making Urdu as the universal lingua-franca of the Muslims of the subcontinent was fuelled by
Aligarh movement of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. This movement strongly influenced the Muslim League and the
Pakistan Movement. During the 1937 Lucknow session of the All-India Muslim League, the Raja of Mahmudabad,
Mohammad Amir Ahmed Khan encouraged Urdu-speaking communities in British India to actively support and safeguard the Urdu language using all possible means.
Liaquat Ali Khan, who was later the first prime minister of Pakistan, stated in 1939: 'We left Arabic language for this India and for the Hindus, we left
Turkish language and adopted a language which came into existence and made progress in this country – a language which is not spoken anywhere else. Now, it is demanded of us that we should speak the language of Balmeek. We have taken many steps forward for the sake of Hindu-Muslim unity. We shall not now take another step forward. We are standing at the edge of our limit. Anyone who wishes to meet us should come here'. On 31 December 1939,
Sayyid Sulaiman Nadvi, while delivering his presidential address at the Urdu Muslim Conference in
Calcutta, said, "In the brightness of the modern-daylight, something darkly unfair is being done and which is that every government official from top to bottom is engaged in doing his utmost in promoting the cause of Hindi. In my opinion, it is a disfavour to the
Congress rather than a favour; it is reinforcing the misconception in the minds of the Muslims that it is what we can do with half the powers, what else we will do with full powers; as a result of which the country will be divided into two parts." Before the establishment of Pakistan, many Muslims of colonial India actively supported Urdu as their national language, and the language emerged as a symbol of unity during the Pakistan Movement by demonstrating that it possessed all the essential traits to affirm the need for a separate state for the Muslims of colonial India. British language policy played a role in shaping political developments that eventually led to the partition of colonial India into India and Pakistan. This outcome was paralleled by the linguistic divide of the Hindi–Urdu continuum, with the emergence of Sanskritised Hindi and Urdu adopting more Persian influences. Urdu had been used as a literary medium for British colonial Indian writers from the
Bombay,
Bengal,
Orissa, and
Hyderabad State as well.
Post-Partition Before independence, Muslim League leader
Muhammad Ali Jinnah advocated the use of Urdu, which he used as a symbol of national cohesion in Pakistan. Like other Muslim religious and political leaders, The scholar and linguist
Maulvi Abdul Haq, who has been called
Baba-e-Urdu (
Father of Urdu), also reinforced support for Urdu as the national language of Pakistan, calling it the lingua franca and a unifying force of the country. Abdul Haq also stated: "Urdu Language placed the first brick in the foundation of Pakistan." In the early years of Pakistan, the finance departments, bureaucracy, and other major institutions of the country were mostly managed by Urdu-speaking population of the country. After the
Bengali language movement and the separation of former
East Pakistan, Urdu was recognised as the sole national language of Pakistan in 1973, although English and regional languages were also granted official recognition. When the
1972 language violence in
Sindh occurred, the poet
Rais Amrohvi, who played a significant role in promoting Urdu and supporting the Urdu-speaking population of Pakistan, wrote his famous poem
Urdu ka janaza hai zara dhoom say niklay (It's Urdu's funeral, make it befitting!) as a tribute to the language. Following the 1979
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent arrival of millions of
Afghan refugees who have lived in Pakistan for many decades, many Afghans, including those who moved back to Afghanistan, have also become fluent in Hindi–Urdu, an occurrence aided by exposure to the Indian media, chiefly Hindi–Urdu
Bollywood films and songs. There have been attempts to purge Urdu of native
Prakrit and
Sanskrit words, and Hindi of Persian loanwords – new vocabulary draws primarily from Persian and Arabic for Urdu and from Sanskrit for Hindi. English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language. According to Bruce (2021), Urdu has adapted English words since the eighteenth century. A movement towards the hyper-Persianisation of an Urdu emerged in Pakistan since its independence in 1947 which is "as artificial as" the hyper-Sanskritised Hindi that has emerged in India; hyper-Persianisation of Urdu was prompted in part by the increasing Sanskritisation of Hindi. However, the style of Urdu spoken on a day-to-day basis in Pakistan is akin to neutral Hindustani that serves as the
lingua franca of the northern Indian subcontinent. In India, since at least 1977, some commentators, such as journalist
Khushwant Singh, have characterised Urdu as a 'dying language.' However, others, such as Indian poet and writer
Gulzar—who is popular in both countries and both language communities but writes only in Urdu (script) and has difficulties reading Devanagari, so he lets others transcribe his work—disagree with this assessment and state that Urdu 'is the most alive language and moving ahead with times' in India. This phenomenon pertains to the decrease in relative and absolute numbers of native Urdu speakers as opposed to speakers of other languages; declining (advanced) knowledge of Urdu's Perso-Arabic script, Urdu vocabulary and grammar; the role of translation and transliteration of literature from and into Urdu; In the 20th century, Indian Muslims gradually began to collectively embrace Urdu or whether this will only hasten its demise and that the language can only be preserved if expressed in the Perso-Arabic script. Throughout India, various states have established an
Urdu Academy to promote the use of Urdu and Urdu literature. For Pakistan, Urdu originally had the image of a refined, elite language of the Enlightenment, progress, and emancipation, and the language contributed to the success of Pakistan's independence movement. But after
the 1947 Partition, when it was chosen as the national language of Pakistan to unite all inhabitants with one linguistic identity, it faced serious competition primarily from Bengali (spoken by 56% of the total population, mostly in East Pakistan until that
attained independence in 1971 as
Bangladesh), and after 1971 from English. Both pro-independence elites that formed the leadership of the Muslim League in Pakistan and the Hindu-dominated
Congress Party in India had been educated in English during the British colonial period, and continued to operate in English and send their children to English-medium schools as they continued dominate both countries' post-Partition politics. Although the Anglicized elite in Pakistan has made attempts at Urduisation of education with varying degrees of success, no successful attempts were ever made to Urduise politics, the legal system, the army, or the economy, all of which remained solidly Anglophone. Even the regime of
general Zia-ul-Haq (1977–1988), who came from a middle-class Punjabi family and initially fervently supported a rapid and complete Urduisation of Pakistani society (earning him the honorary title of the 'Patron of Urdu' in 1981), failed to make significant achievements, and by 1987 had abandoned most of his efforts in favour of pro-English policies. Since the 1960s, the Urdu lobby and eventually the Urdu language in Pakistan has been associated with religious Islamism and political national conservatism (and eventually the lower and lower-middle classes, alongside regional languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, and Balochi), while English has been associated with the internationally oriented secular and progressive left (and eventually the upper and upper-middle classes). Despite governmental attempts at Urduisation of Pakistan, the position and prestige of English only grew stronger in the meantime. == Demographics and geographic distribution ==