The History of the Urdu Language

Ancient History:

Urdu is classified in the Indo-European language family, as are Sanskrit and Old Persian.  Within this family, it belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of languages.

Languages do not evolve in isolation. Old Persian and Sanskrit influenced one another. Below is a table with some examples.

The interactions between the people of the Indian Subcontinent, specifically, Punjab, and Fars, led to the development of a language known as Pehli Prakrit.

Prakrit evolved and eventually encompassed a group of languages (Dusri Prakrit):

• Paishachi 

• Magadhi 

• Shauraseni 

• Maharashtri 

• Apabhramsa 

Sanskrit developed from Prakrit, and later, languages like Braj Bhasha and Khari Boli evolved from Sanskrit. Urdu and Hindi, as we know them today, emerged from a second wave of interaction between the people of the Indian Subcontinent and Persia around 1000 AD. So how did it happen? 

The First 100 Years in the History of the Urdu Language:

It’s 1000 A.D - the people of Agra, Ajmer, and their surrounding areas speak a language known as Braj Bhasha. 

In 1001, Mahmud Ghaznavi invades Punjab, and al-Hind. After his series of sixteen attacks, many of his soldiers were left behind. 

When Persian and Bhasha speakers begin to live in close proximity, the languages naturally begin to influence one another. 

The Ghaznavid Empire fell in 1182. Between the time of Mahmud Ghaznavi to Muhammad Ghauri, Bhasha had absorbed between seventy to eighty words from Persian. 

We find evidence of this in the work of a famous poet of the time, Chandrdai, and his book, Parthi Raj Rasu. This book also mentions the story of Rani Padmavati, albeit a different version from what was depicted in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film. 

Some of the first words in Bhasha absorbed from Persian were the following:

Shehr (city), Nishan (mark), Huzur (a title), Zorawar (physically powerful), Talvaar (sword), Mauj (enjoyment), Bazaar (market), Muqaam (place/sight), Zeen (briddle), Maal (treasury/goods), Kaghaz (paper), Farmaan (a royal order), Roz (day), Takht (throne), Tegh (sword), Tasbeeh (rosary), Sultan (king), Teer (arrow), Kumaan (bow), Tazi (an Arabic horse), Guruz (a weapon wielded by Pehvans), and Pehelvan (someone trained in the ancient Persian martial art of Pehelvani).

Nearly all of these are related to either royal or military settings - they tell a story which, in a way, authenticates itself. The absorption of words continued until the time of Sultan Qutbuddin Aibak, who conquered Delhi in 1206. 

With Muslims in Delhi, began the second era of Urdu’s development, over the course of some three centuries. 

From Rekhta (1206-1520s) to Urdu:

Hindus began to learn Persian, the Court Language, and Muslims began to learn Bhasha, the local language. Eventually, a mishmash of Bhasha and Persian formed and came to be known as Rekhta, or Hindavi. 

In 1255, Ameer Khusrow was born to a Turkic family residing in Mominabad, now known as Patiali. He moved to Delhi during the reign of Sultan Ghiyas-ul-Din Balban and began residing at court. 

Three years after Balban passed away, Delhi changed hands once more, and the era of Khilji rule began. 

Khusrow remained at court as a well-respected poet. Khusrow lived to see yet another dynasty come into power, when in 1320, Ghias-ul-Din Tughlaq assumed the throne. Three years later, Khusrow passed away, having witnessed eleven kings on the throne of Delhi. 

Also a disciple of Khawaja Nizammuddin, much of Khusrow’s work is based around Sufi themes. However, he is also famed for his riddles. Besides his work in Farsi, a considerable number of his couplets were penned in Rekhta.

Another poet, Kabir, also wrote in Rekhta, contributing to the development of poetry. Born to a Jaulaha (the weaving cast), in 1380, he became a disciple of Baba Rama Nand. He rose to fame for his Bhajjans. 

Rekhta is both readable and largely understandable by those who are familiar with Urdu. 

In 1526, a new era began for Urdu with the dawn of the Mughal Empire. The Mughals referred to themselves as the Exalted Camp, and Rekhta took on the name Zuban-i-Urdu-i Mualla (The Language of the Exalted Camp). The word Urdu has the same origin as the English word, horde, from the Turkic Ordu, which means royal, or royal camp.

By Akbar’s time, all that was left of the Timurids was a name, an association, and a bloodline. Chaghatai Turkish had been largely replaced by Persian, and the Empire had adopted Indo-Persianate culture as its court culture. Naturally, the ways of the Steppe were forgotten. 

It was during the same time that Urdu gained court patronage. At Shahjahanabad, Urdu became one of the many languages associated with ilm - translations were undertaken, and many books were written. 

From there, Urdu spread to Deccan, Awadh, Lahore, and beyond. Braj Bhasha was retained in areas that are now Central India. 

Tulsi Wajee writes that at the time, it of Eastern Hindi of Kashi, which was regarded as pure or proper Hindi, because it was far more closely related to Sanskrit than other Hindi dialects. 

Today, Urdu and Braj Bhasha have several differences: this includes common nouns, the script, and pronunciation. 

Whilst both, Urdu and Bhasha have a syntax similar to that of Hindi, Urdu’s script and vocabulary is largely Persianate, to the extent that the two sister languages are like water flowing from tributaries into a larger sea of vocabulary and concepts.

Modern-day Pakistan sits at the crossroads of Indic and Persian influences. Urdu alone is proof that Pakistan’s cultural identity will always be deeply Indo-Persian.

Communities west of the Indus River naturally lean toward Persianate traditions, while those east of the Indus show stronger Indic social influences. 

Urdu Is written in the Persio-Arabic script. Its vocabulary is heavily shaped by Persian and by languages of the broader Persianate world, such as Turkic and Arabic. However, its syntax and grammar make it mutually intelligible with Hindi.

This brings us to another important point: why is it important to have conversations around Urdu?

Contemporary Debates around Hindi and Urdu

To dismiss a culture or language because of shared geographical or linguistic ancestry is a form of microaggression and is tantamount to attempted cultural erasure and imperialism. Languages, societies, and cultures do not evolve in isolation. They interact, influence, and shape one another — it is how the world works.

As tensions between India and Pakistan rise, it has become common for some Indians, particularly the Hindi-speaking right-wing, to mock Urdu and attempt to assert ownership over a language they neither read, write, nor truly speak. Mutual intelligibility between languages does not make them “dialects.” Urdu and Hindi might have developed from the same language centuries ago.

Projected “ownership” by the Indian right-wing does not change the fact that today, Urdu belongs to Pakistan (and to the Deccan). It has been nurtured, sustained and perfected by our people. The tradition of Khatt-e-Nastaliq lies beyond the reach of ignorant and hateful rhetoric.

India, as a nation-state, came into existence in 1947, just like Pakistan. People have lived in the region for far longer than that. The argument that "Pakistan has no culture before 1947" is absurd. Coupled with conflating what the term "India" meant historically (the region) with what it means today (the country) to lay claim to all languages and cultures found in the subcontinent is an attempt at cultural erasure. Pakistanis, Bengalis, and Nepalis often find themselves targeted by such rhetoric in particular.

Thoughts on the Conundrum Within Pakistan:

Today, most of us Pakistanis are at least bilingual. The first language we learn is our mother tongue — whether it’s Pashto, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Burushaski, or any of the dozens of languages spoken across our regions.

Many of us also speak English, a language we have adapted out of necessity — for education, for work, and because it serves as a global lingua franca.

Then there are those who speak three or more languages. Some grew up in multilingual cities, others were raised by multi-ethnic parents, and many lived in environments where the language spoken at home differed from the language spoken outside. (On a side note, these people always have the best music recommendations.)

Finally, we come to Urdu. Each one of us, from Gilgit to Makran, is from amongst thee Ahl-e-Zuban-e-Urdu, regardless of whether it's a first language or second. 

The Urdu language was born out of the need for people with different first languages living together to be able to understand each other. It continues to do that for us, Pakistanis today. 

No amount of any kind of revisionism will alter the fact that a country requires a common language for administration and communication. 

This necessity does not — and should not — come at the expense of ethnic languages. But without a shared language, we lose the ability to speak to each other altogether. The chances are, owing Urdu will do us more good than disowning it. 

The more we speak to each other, the more we understand and empathise with each other. It is how we can solve problems we share together. It is also how we can prevent new divides, and blaming one another for challenges imposed on us by any third party in question.

The more we embrace Urdu, the less "foreign" it will feel. Language is not static — it lives, grows, and evolves with its speakers. For example, how can Urdu be spoken across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or Sindh, and not naturally absorb words, phrases, and expressions from Pashto and Sindhi? That is not dilution; it is enrichment.

A living language reflects the realities of its people. Urdu has to grow alongside our mother languages. The more it will truly represent all of us, not as outsiders to one another, but as people connected to one another. 

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References:

Urdu Zuban ki Tarikh

Tarikh e Adab e Urdu