The Urdu language was in the news again recently. When a woman (who goes by @deepsealioness) was trolled online for posting her name in Urdu, hundreds of non-Urdu speakers, as a show of solidarity, wrote their names in Urdu, and getting #MyNameInUrdu to trend online. It was a heartwarming feeling to see so many people coming out in support of the language.
Javed Akhtar has rightly stated that “Zabane mazhabon ki nahin, illaqon ki hoti hain (Languages do not belong to religions, they belong to regions).” Unfortunately Urdu is a language that is strongly related to religion. There is so much Muslimness attached to it that Urdu has become synonyms with Muslim people. While Urdu is largely spoken by Muslims, especially in the North, it is to be acknowledged that it has always had huge fan following and some of its greatest patrons are non-Muslims like Gulzar whose contribution in promoting and nurturing Urdu is enormous.
The myth that Urdu is a foreign language has been repeatedly busted, but the idea is strongly ingrained in the minds of many that it takes a lot of effort to bust the myth. Urdu is a Hindustani language with its roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Later, due to the influence of Persian speaking rulers, many Persian and a few Arabic words were added into it’s vocabulary. But the fact remains that Urdu was born and flourished in Hindustan/India, and is definitely not a foreign language.
Urdu is widely spoken in India. Around 5-6.5% of our total population speaks Urdu, and it is one of the 22 official languages in India. The idea of Urdu was romanticised by various shayars (poets) who eloquently used Urdu to express their feelings. A genre of Urdu poetry was popularised by the shayars who were patronised by the Mughal rulers and Nawabs. Even after the downfall of its rich patrons, Urdu poetry continued to flourish amongst the common masses. Ssuch was the adoration for the language.
With the arrival of motion cinema, Urdu was embraced and nurtured by the Hindi film industry. The influence of Urdu was significantly strong in Bollywood resulting in an extravagant use of Urdu in dialogues and lyrics. The extent of a lyricists or writer’s knowledge of Urdu was essential to be successful in the Hindi film Industry.
As there is not much difference in Hindi and Urdu, lyricists adeptly used Urdu in many songs and people rarely could differentiate between the two languages. That’s how Urdu became an integral part of the Hindi movie industry. Scores of songs have Urdu words weaved masterfully along with Hindi, aiding in the expression of emotions with its magical touch.
A language so loved and nourished has, sadly, with time, became synonymous exclusively with Muslim culture. After a stage, the image of Urdu as a ‘Muslim language’ became so badly etched in people’s minds that this turned out to be detrimental to the language and later it was used communalise the language! Eventually a language that was born in this very land has been falsely labelled as foreign.
With globalisation, many Urdu speakers shifted towards an English education. The influence of this beautiful language gradually started to decline. Though not completely vanished, the grand status it once enjoyed was evidently gone.
There was a noticeable drop in the use of Urdu not only in the Hindi film industry but also in our daily gabfests; Urdu words were replaced by Hindi ones. There has also been a decline in the number of publications in Urdu. Many Urdu publications have been closed or are struggling to survive. But even this failed to placate those who were hell bent on communalising Urdu. Attacks on the language continued unabashedly and anything or anyone associated with Urdu was linked with a ‘Muslim communal agenda’.
Interestingly many Urdu speakers themselves are not very proficient in the language especially the written form. Many can speak it effortlessly, but many more can’t write or read the script. The gradual shift from the language is been happening but thanks to the strong negative campaign against Urdu, the language has again managed to gain the attention of everyone especially the younger generation.
From a nearly-dying language, Urdu has suddenly turned into a cool language. People are waking up to the unique style of Urdu. It is been rebranded not only as a language of poetry (shayari) and culture (tahzeeb) But also a language that binds people, crosses geographical barriers, and is being openly embraced by non-Urdu speakers. It is such a pleasure to see so many people displaying their names in Urdu.
Noted poet Gulzar has beautifully expressed in these lines a sentiment that I too share:
“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
badī aristocracy hai zabāñ meñ.”