For centuries, the history of India has been filled with the presence of diverse foreign cultures – always welcoming and assimilating. The Aryans reached India around 1500 BCE and blended with the Indus Valley civilization, which later helped develop Hinduism. Likewise, the arrival of Greek civilizations was marked by the arrival of Alexander the Great in 327 BCE. The Greek ideas spread throughout India in arts, sculpture, and philosophy. Centuries later, Islam’s contributions began as Muslim traders started trickling in. The arrival of each had a profound effect on Indian languages but none perhaps had a greater influence than Persian.
The roots can be traced back to around 535 BCE when trade relations started between India and the Achaemenid Empire. As a result, the Persian language was introduced in India. Over time, the influence increased, and the Persian language started to affect several dimensions of Indian culture. The catchy Persian vocabulary refined the language of people and the delicate Persian poetry added beauty to Indian poetry.
Persian Vocabulary
Persian exerted influence on India’s vocabulary, literary forms, and titles. Persian vocabulary gained prominence in the Indian languages as it broadened the expressive range of the Indian languages. Initially, when the traders exchanged their goods, they also exchanged words from each other’s languages. For instance, words like ‘bazaar’ for marketplace, ‘zar’ for gold, and ‘daftar’ for office emerged. These words were not limited to the traders but also spread in the administrative system of India and also to the common people. In the administrative system, words such as mansab for military rank, faujdar for district governor, and jagir for land grant were adopted. Likewise, in the daily lives of people words such as mehfil for gathering, asmaan for sky, rah for way, tang for narrow, and khat for letter emerged.
Persian Poetry
The poetic expression of Persian was adopted by many Indian poets. Beyond vocabulary, the cultural exchange between India and the Persian Empire also fueled the world of poetry as it reformed the grammatical structure of Indian languages. Poets began to use words such as Qabool kardan which means accept, mahroom kardan means deprive, and negah kardan which means to look at. Terms and titles such as Khuda hafiz, Khan, and bahadur were used. Moreover, the language contributed to the philosophical arena of India by introducing Islamic philosophy, sufi thought, and Muslim advancements in mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. However, several issues also emerged. For instance, the adoption of Persian as the administrative language of India in Mughal India led to local antagonism and created a gap between the ruler and the ruled.
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Birth of Urdu
The amalgamation of Persian, Turkish, and local languages gave birth to Urdu. The language emerged during the Mughal era and was eventually adopted as the language of the court. Persian books were translated to Urdu and the great Iranian poets captivated local intelligentsia through their thought-provoking and eye-catching poems and prose. Mir Taqi Mir employed Persian emotional depth, metaphors, and similes, and this Urdu ghazal was born. Likewise, Mirza Sauda used satire to criticize social ethos in a deep poetic style. Mirza Khan Insha used the narrative poem style to entertain the readers.
Beyond Urdu
The influence of Persian goes beyond Urdu. A major Indian language, Bengali, and probably the sweetest of them all, couldn’t escape the Persian impression. Several famous Persian works such as Laila Majnu and the poems of Hafiz Shirazi were translated into Bengali language. The influence of Persian loanwords and vocabulary can still be seen in the Bengali language.
Other languages such as Punjabi, Gujarati, and Hindi saw Persian influence as well. The impact has been particularly deep in Punjab. Punjabi accepted several loanwords and vocabulary from the Persian, for instance, zameen (land), nahr (canal), and padshah (king). Punjabi poets, especially Sufis, used Persian literary techniques and metaphysical expressions.
Conclusion
The rise of the Persian language and its dominant effect on the languages of India has left a remarkable legacy of the Persian culture. It undoubtedly enhanced the word bank of the Indian languages and reformed the literature, administration, and local languages of the Indian Empire. However, after the emergence of British rule, the administrative language of India was changed to English. Yet Persian exerted influence by keeping its legacy on the lingual landscape of the subcontinent. In a nutshell, the influence of the Persian language remains profound and multidimensional as it paved the way for new vocabulary, changed literary styles, introduced new thought streams, and contributed to the rise of the Urdu language which later gained immense political importance in the subcontinent.
[Fizza Mehak Batool is an undergraduate student of International Relations at BUITEMS. She has written for Paradigm Shift and other outlets.]
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