اہلِ زبانِ اردو | |
|---|---|
 The phraseZuban-e-Urdu-e-Mualla or "Language of the Exalted Camp" | |
| Total population | |
| 68.62 million[1] (2019) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| India (diasporicUrdu Belt, a regional belt that consists ofHindi-Urdu belt states, many speakers live in various cities inDeccan Plateau) Pakistan (Muhajirs inKarachi,Hyderabad & mainly acrosslarge cities in Sindh andother large Pakistani cities) Nepal (Terai region) Bangladesh (diasporicUrdu-speaking Bihari communities, also known as Stranded Pakistanis, live throughout Bangladesh, particularly inSaidpur,Nilphamari,Mohammadpur andOld Dhaka) | |
 India | 50,772,631 (2011)[2] |
 Pakistan | 22,249,307 (2023)[3] |
 Nepal | 413,785 (2021)[4] |
 United States | 397,502 (2013)[5] |
 Bangladesh | 300,000 (2011)[6][7] |
 United Kingdom | 270,000 (2011)[8] |
 Canada | 210,815 (2016)[9] |
 Australia | 69,131 (2016)[10] |
| Languages | |
| Urdu | |
| Religion | |
| Islam,Hinduism, small minorityChristianity andJudaism | |
Native speakers ofUrdu are spread acrossSouth Asia.[note 1][12][13] The vast majority of them are Muslims of theHindi–Urdu Belt ofnorthern India,[note 2][14][15][16] followed by theDeccani people of theDeccan plateau in south-central India (who speakDeccani Urdu), and most of theMuhajir people ofPakistan and somestranded Pakistani communities inBangladesh.[17][18][19] The historical centres of Urdu speakers includeDelhi andLucknow.[20][21] Another defunct variety of the language was historically spoken inLahore for centuries before the name "Urdu" first began to appear. However, little is known about this defunct Lahori variety as it has not been spoken for centuries.[22][11]
From the early Muslim kingdoms developed Indian Muslim clan-groups who were well-rooted social groups that acted as warrior lineages providing court officers and military soldiers. These evolving communities or tribes played a key role in providing a local Muslim leadership.[23] The language developed at the time ofSultans of Dehli due to the mixture of people, likely to be soldiers, from Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Afghan and Indian background.[citation needed]
As early as 1689, Europeans used the label"Moors dialect", which simply meant "Muslim",[24] to describe Urdu, the language associated with the Muslims in North India,[25] such as John Ovington, who visited India during the reign of Mughal emperorAurangzeb:[26]
The language of theMoors is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India, but is oblig'd to these Gentiles for its characters. For though theMoors 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 theHeathens, or from thePersians, or other Nations.
The Upper Doab and Rohilkhand was dominated by a literate and homogenous elite, who embraced a distinctiveIndo-Persian style of culture. This service gentry, performing both clerical and military service for the Mughal empire and its successor states, provided cultural and literary patronage that continued, even after the political decline, to act as preservers ofIndo-Persian traditions and values.[27]
![Officer of Col Gardiner’s irregular Cavalry, "drawn mainly from Muslism from Hindoostan"[28]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAn_Officer_of_Col_Gardiner%25E2%2580%2599s_irregular_Cavalry.jpg)
The end of Muslim rule saw a large number of unemployedIndian Muslim horsemen, who were employed in the army of theEast India Company.[29] Thus 75% of the cavalry branch of the British army was composed of a social group referred to as the "Hindustani Mahomedans". This included Indian MuslimBaradaris of theUrdu-Hindustani Belt such as theRanghar (Rajput Muslims),Sheikhs,Sayyids,Mughals, andIndianized Pathans.[30][31] British officers such asSkinner,Gardner and Hearsay had become leaders of irregular cavalry that preserved the traditions of Mughal cavalry, which had a political purpose because it absorbed pockets of cavalrymen who might otherwise become disaffected plunderers.[32] The Governor-general insisted that it was incumbent upon the British to "give military employment" to various north Indian Muslim soldiers, particularly those "formerly engaged in military service of the Native powers".[33] The lingua franca spoken in the army was a form ofUrdu referred to in colonial usage as "military Hindustani".[34]
TheIndian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated by the3rd Bengal Light Cavalry in Meerut, which was composed mainly of Indian Muslims.[35] The mutineers made for Delhi, where its garrison revolted, massacring its British population, and installedBahadur Shah Zafar as its nominal leader. The spread of the word that the British had been expelled from Delhi, interpreted as the breakdown of British authority, acted as a catalyst for mutiny as well as revolt. Regiments in other parts of northern India only revolted after Delhi had fallen.[36] British characterisations of Muslims as fanatics took the fore during and after the Great Rebellion, as well as produced the Indian Muslims as a unified, cogent group, who were easily agitated, aggressive, and inherently disloyal.[37]
Even in later days, the same clans were dominant groups in the associations in the defence of Urdu and district Muslim Leagues which were among the first forays of Muslims into electoral and pressure-group politics.[38] In the 19th century,Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his followers such asMohsin-ul-Mulk further advocated for the adoption of Urdu as the language ofIndian Muslims, and led organisations such as theAnjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu andUrdu Defence Association, which won popular support in theAligarh Movement and theDeoband Movement.[39] It was made the official language of British India in 1825 and got large opposition from the Hindus and thus sparking theHindi-Urdu controversy in 1867. This resulted in Sir Syed'sTwo Nation Theory in 1868. The Urdu language was used in the emergence of a political Muslim self-consciousness.[40] Syed Ahmed Khan converted the existing cultural and religious entity among Indian Muslims into a separatist political force, throwing a Western cloak of nationalism over the Islamic concept of culture. Furthermore, in 2008 Syed Nadeem Ahmed brought forward the idea of Urdu Nationalism by presenting his theory of "Urdu Qaum" based on Urdu language and culture. The distinct sense of value, culture and tradition among Indian Muslims originated from the nature of Islamization of the Indian populace during theMuslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent.[41]
Although the majority of Urdu-speakers reside inPakistan (including 30 million native speakers,[19] and up to 94 million second-language speakers),[11] where Urdu is the national and official language, most speakers who use Urdu as theirnative tongue live innorthern India, where it is one of22 official languages.[42]
The Urdu-speaking community is also present in other parts ofthe subcontinent with ahistorical Muslim presence, such as theDeccanis, theBiharis[18] andDhakaiyas (who speakDhakaiya Urdu) in Bangladesh,[43] the Urdu-speaking members of theMadheshi community in Nepal,[44] someMuslims in Sri Lanka[45] and a section ofBurmese Indians.[46]
In addition, there are Urdu-speakers present among the South Asian diaspora, most notably in theMiddle East,[47] North America (notably the United States and Canada),[47][48] Europe (notably theUnited Kingdom),[49] theCaribbean region,[49] Africa (notablySouth Africa andMauritius),[49] Southeast Asia (notablySingapore)[50] and Oceania (notablyAustralia[10] andFiji).[49]
The language known variously as Urdu/Hindi/Hindustani, and in an earlier era, Hindavi, was born on the streets and in the bazaars of North India. Khari Boli, spoken in and around Delhi and what is now western Uttar Pradesh, is the base language of which the Persian lexicon came to be added. Urdu, written in the Persian-Arabic script, was spoken by Hindus and Muslims across North India and the Deccan Plateau. ... The partitioning orf Urdu began in earnest in the second half of the nineteenth century, after the failed 1857 Ware of Independence (known to the British as the Mutiny), when India ceased to be merely an asset of the East India Company.
Urdu is a stylized version of the colloquial language spoken by both Muslims and Hindus in what is now central north India.
Historically speaking, Urdu grew out of interaction between Hindus and Muslims. He noted that Urdu is not the language of Muslims alone, although Muslims may have played a larger role in making it a literary language. Hindu poets and writers could and did bring specifically Hindu cultural elements into Urdu and these were accepted.
Historically, Urdu developed from the sub-regional language of the Delhi area, which became a literary language in the eighteenth century. Two quite similar standard forms of the language developed in Delhi, and in Lucknow in modern Uttar Pradesh. Since 1947, a third form, Karachi standard Urdu, has evolved.
Modern Urdu is a fairly homogenous language. An older southern form, Deccani Urdu, is now obsolete. Two varieties however, must be mentioned viz. The Urdu of Delhi, and the Urdu of Lucknow. Both are almost identical, differing only in some minor points. Both of these varieties are considered 'Standard Urdu' with some minor divergences.
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