Urdu was in news again recently, when a lady was trolled for posting her name in Urdu. In an act of solidarity, hundreds of non-Urdu speakers wrote their names in the language under #MyNameInUrdu, making it trend all over the social media. It was heartwarming to see so many people coming out in support of the language despite its consistent decline in India.
The famous poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar once rightly stated that “zabane mazhabon ki nahin, illaqon ki hoti hain” (Languages do not belong to religions, they belong to regions). However, Urdu, unfortunately, has always been strongly associated with religion. It won’t be completely wrong to say that the language to some extent has become synonymous to Islam. While Urdu is largely spoken by Muslims especially in the North, it should also be acknowledged that it has always had a huge fan following and some of its greatest patrons are non-Muslims like Sampooran Singh Kalra aka Gulzar whose contribution in promoting the language is enormous. The myth that Urdu is a foreign language has been repeatedly busted. Nevertheless, the idea still remains strongly ingrained in the minds of many.
Urdu is a Hindustani language with its roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit. In the medieval era due to the influence of Persian speaking rulers, many Persian and few Arabic words were added into its vocabulary. However, the fact remains intact that Urdu was born and flourished in Hindustan/India and is definitely not a language of foreign origin. Urdu is widely spoken in India accounting to almost 5 to 6.5% of the total population of India. Moreover, it also happens to be one of the 22 official languages of India. The language was romanticised by various ‘shayars’ (poets) who eloquently used Urdu to put forth their thoughts and feelings. The principal forms of Urdu poetry like ‘Ghazal, Nazm, Qasida’(to name a few) were popularised by the ‘shayars’ who were patronised by the Mughal rulers and the Nawabs. Even after the downfall of its rich patrons, Urdu poetry continued to flourish amongst the common masses and interestingly reached its pinnacle under the British Rule.
With the arrival of motion pictures, Urdu was warmly embraced by the Hindi film industry. The influence of Urdu was significantly strong in Bollywood resulting in bounteous use of Urdu in dialogues and lyrics, to an extent that knowledge of Urdu was essential to be a successful lyricist in the Hindi film Industry. As there is not much difference in Hindi and Urdu, lyricists amply used Urdu in many songs and people rarely could differentiate between the two languages making Urdu an integral part of the Hindi Cinema. Scores of songs have Urdu words weaved masterfully along with Hindi, providing its magical touch to the expression of feelings and thoughts of the protagonist.
A language so loved and revered sadly with time became synonyms with only the Muslim culture. There came a stage where the image of Urdu as a Muslim language got so strongly etched in the minds of the masses, that it turned out to be detrimental to the survival of the language. Eventually, the language got communalized and now is falsely labelled as foreign. With the advent of globalisation, many Urdu speakers shifted towards English education. The influence of language gradually started to decline, though not completely but the venerated status it once enjoyed was evidently lost. There was a noticeable drop in the use of Urdu not only in the Hindi film industry but also in the daily routine gabfest Urdu words were replaced by Hindi. There has also been a considerable decline in the number of publications in Urdu, with many Urdu publications closing down or struggling to survive.
However, its sad fall from glory failed to placate those who were hell-bent on communalising the language. Attacks on the language continued unabashedly and anything or anyone associated with Urdu was linked with Islam.
Ironically many Urdu speakers themselves are not proficient in the language especially the written form, although they speak Urdu effortlessly many can’t write or read the script.
The gradual shift from the language is been happening but thanks to the strong recent campaign in support of Urdu under the hashtag MyNameInUrdu, the language has again managed to garner the attention of everyone especially the younger generation. From a language at a decline, Urdu has suddenly turned into something which the millennials term as ‘Cool’. People are waking up to the unique style of Urdu and it is been rebranded, it’s just not only a language of ‘shayari'(poetry) and ‘tehzeeb‘(culture) but also a language that is binding people together. The language is braving the geographical barriers and is getting openly embraced by non-Urdu speakers and it is such a pleasure to see so many people displaying their names in Urdu.
Famous poet Gulzar has beautifully expressed in these lines :
“ye kaisā ishq hai urdu zabāñ kaa,
mazā ghultā hai lafzoñ kā zabāñ par
ki jaise paan meñ mahñgā qimām ghultā hai
ye kaisā ishq hai urdu zabāñ kaa….
nasha aatā hai urdu bolne meñ
gilaurī kī tarah haiñ muñh lagī sab istelāheñ
lutf detī hai, halaq chhūtī hai urdu to, halaq se jaise mai kā ghoñT utartā hai
baḌī aristocracy hai zabāñ meñ “