Persian Gives Place To Urdu

– Tariq Rahman

The sequence of events relating to the transition from Persian to Urdu in Hyderabad state has been described admirably by Syed Mustafa Kamal [who] points out that, notwithstanding the influence of the Hindustani in favour of Urdu, the transition to that language was pioneered by a blue-blooded Hyderabad aristocrat, Bashir ud Daulah Sir Asman Jah (b.1839). He was appointed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (Sadr-ul-Maham Adalat) in 1869. In 1871 he proposed that Urdu be used in place of Persian in the courts of law. Prime Minister Sir Salar Jang I conceded only that ‘the recording of statements in Urdu, that is, the language in common use, is enough’.. However, ‘all other writing would have to be in Persian.’ Bashir ud Daulah tried to obtain more concessions for Urdu, but this time the Prime Minister rebuffed him in the following words:

But this revival [of the pro-Urdu movement] is not acceptable to His Exalted Highness […] because many people do not know the skills for writing (standard) Urdu…(ibid.,47,qtd. in Kamal 1990, 101)

Moreover, the Prime Minister clarified that Urdu was merely permitted it was not necessary …

In 1876 the Prime Minister agreed that the administrators (nazama) and the clerks (munshis) had gained competence in Urdu. It was, however, clarified that their Urdu writing was not meant to exhibit their mastery of difficult Persian words. By ‘Urdu,’ said the order, a high, literary style was not meant (Urdu-e mu’alla murad nist).

By 1883, it appears that the conservative Salar Jang I was no longer as adamant about retaining Persian as he had been earlier because he gave more concessions to Urdu two days before his death (ibid.,114), though his orders for the courts were published after his death on 8 February 1883. It appears he reasoned that if Marathi and Telugu were allowed for officials to record their decisions, then those whose mother-tongue was Urdu should be similarly facilitated. The formal shift in the language of the state took place in the time of Mir Laiq Ali Khan Salar Jang II, who was appointed to the prime ministership on 5 February 1884 and resigned from the post in 1887.

The first order, dated 21 February 1884, is about the use of Urdu for all types of work in the courts. First, the Prime Minister complains about the linguistic confusion prevalent in the courts. Officials use both Urdu and Persian as they please. Then, he advances the argument that this state of affairs must be ended by using the most easily understood language namely Urdu. In conclusion, the Urdu order says clearly:

Thus Mada ru’l-Muham is pleased to order that as soon as this order reaches the offices of the court, from that time all the work in those offices will be in Urdu.

Moreover, the officials are asked to write simple rather than ornate and Persianized Urdu. However, rural offices would continue to function in the local languages. The talukdars (landed gentlemen) were ordered to address higher authorities in Urdu. Local languages were to be tolerated, but not in urban areas such as Hyderabad, where only Urdu was to be used. Another symbolic event was a speech delivered by Mahbub Ali Khan to the first meeting of the Council of State held on 28 February 1884. This is in Urdu and the language is simple and understandable. In 1886 all offices were ordered to work in Urdu.

The summary of the memorandum on this subject (item No.176, June 1886) as presented by the Prime Minister to the Nizam…[s]olicits sanction for the use of Urdu instead of Persian in all official correspondence, and adds that it is the Secretaries to Government who use Persian in official correspondence, whereas Urdu was adopted in all the offices. It also speaks of the advantages and facilities afforded by the use of Urdu language. The Nizam sanctions the introduction of Urdu in all correspondence carried out by the Secretaries to Government.

Urdu and the Royalty

As mentioned earlier, Urdu was taught even when Persian was the official language of the state. The Census of 1871 recorded that “Arabic, Persian, and Hindustani” as well as English are taught. Royalty were also taught Urdu in addition to Persian and English. The Resident, Mr.Saunders, addressed Salar Jang I on 12 January 1871 in ‘Hindoostanee,’ hoping that it was a language that would ‘bear good fruit at Hyderabad…’

The young Nizam, Mahbub Ali Khan, was educated under the supervision of an English tutor, but he was taught Urdu and Persian as well as English. The overall in-charge of the young Nizam’s education was Captain John Clerk, son of G.R. Clerk, Governor of Bombay. He arrived in Hyderabad in January 1875. Sarwar Jang, the young Nizam’s Indian tutor, mentions how the prince was taught by elderly, sycophantic courtiers – certainly not the best way to teach a child. However, at the end of 1879 the prince’s ‘report card showed he was doing well in Geography, Arithmetic and Urdu’. Sarwar Jang also describes how the teaching of Persian was replaced with that of Urdu, which was taught until four o’clock in the afternoon, and calligraphy in its script was taught for half an hour.

Later, when the question of the education of Mir Osman Ali Khan came up, by this date, at least in British minds, Urdu was important enough to be taught to a major princely ally of the empire. The Resident wrote, ‘[He should] begin with his own vernacular-Urdu’-but also, ‘parri passu, learn English’. Accordingly, both English and Urdu were taught to the future ruler. For Urdu, Syed Husain Bilgrami was appointed tutor to the young prince in 1895. And for English, he had an English tutor – Bryan (later Sir) Egerton. In addition there were Indian tutors (ataliq) who taught Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English.

Others in the royal family, such as Osman Ali Khan’s daughter-in-law Durreshehwar (d.2006)-mother of Mir Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah (b.1938), the eighth Nizam, who held the title from 1967 until 1971, and daughter of Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Majid of Turkey – learned it from Agha Haidar Hasan Mirza. She became fluent in Urdu in less than a year. Mukarram’s education was in Madrasa-i-Aliya to begin with, but then he went to Doon School and Harrow. Even Mukarram Jah’s Turkish wife, Esra Birgin, learned to speak Urdu. However, in keeping with the increasing modernization and Anglicization of the Indian elite, the young princes were learning more English than any other languages through their schooling.

The royalty were not the only ones to learn Urdu, of course. The common people, and especially the middle classes, learned it in order to find employment. There were many institutions and people to promote the learning of Urdu. One of the personalities associated with Urdu, Maulavi Abdul Haq …wrote two pamphlets on letter writing in Urdu in 1901. In the second, there is a letter from a father to a son exhorting him to take an interest in the mother tongue (Urdu). The son agrees and sets out on this path. These pamphlets were written at the request of Syed Husain Bilgrami, probably in his capacity as the Nizam’s tutor. Thus Abdul Haq tried to sow the seed of love for Urdu in the future ruler’s breast.

Maulavi Abdul Haq was also one of the pioneers of Osmania University. He presided over the Dar-ul-Tarjuma and invited eminent people from North India: Zafar Ali Khan, Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Abdul Haleem Sharar, Waheed ud Din Saleem, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Maulana Mirza Mehdi Khan, Ross Masood, and others. Abdul Haq considered Urdu, as he told one of his friends, also called Abdul Haq, that he considered him a ‘true Muslim’ because one characteristic of a Muslim was ‘the love of Urdu’(Urdu ki muhabbat). Thus, while the upper classes were switching to English in response to increasing Anglicization, the middle classes were fully given to education in Urdu.

From Hindi to Urdu: A Social and Political History Orient BlackSwan, Hyderabad, 2011 Pages 238-243. Reprinted with kind courtesy of the publisher.