Punjabi, and
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
. Their alphabets differ slightly to accommodate unique sounds not found in Persian. Additionally, the
Nastaliq
''Nastaliq'' (; fa, , ), also romanized as ''Nastaʿlīq'', is one of the main calligraphic hands used to write the Perso-Arabic script in the Persian and Urdu languages, often used also for Ottoman Turkish poetry, rarely for Arabic. ''Nast ...
calligraphic hand popularised by Persian is the main style used for writing Urdu and the main style used for writing Punjabi in Pakistan.
Contemporary
Indian Persian
The Persian language is now largely defunct in the Indian subcontinent. However, it still lingers in some scholarly and literary circles; for example, the
University of Kashmir
The University of Kashmir (U-K, UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India which was established in 194 ...
in
Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
has been publishing the Persian-language journal ''Dānish'' since 1969.
Some colleges and universities in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
offer Persian as a course of study. Commenting on the state of the field in 2008, Abidi and Gargesh wrote that there was a "general lack of interest" in Persian studies.
Though Arabic largely dominates the realm of Islamic liturgy and theology in the Indian subcontinent, Persian can be seen in some religious spheres: the ''
dhikr
''Dhikr'' ( ar, ذِكْر}, , also spelled ''Zikr'', ''Thikr'', ''Zekr'', or ''Zikar'', literally meaning "remembrance, reminder" or "mention") is a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted in order to reme ...
'' sessions of Sufism often employ Persian poetry in song, and the Sufi devotional music genre of ''
qawwali
Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...
'' also uses Persian in parallel with local languages. Famed ''qawwali'' singer
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi music, Sufi devotional music. ...
sang sometimes in Persian.
Indian Persian is linguistically the same as Modern Persian. However, when compared to modern Iranian Persian, it differs significantly in pronunciation. This is because the Persian spoken in the subcontinent is still the Classical Persian historically used as a lingua franca throughout the Persianate world. The most prominent difference is seen in the vowel system: in Iran, the language underwent some isolated developments to reach its present form, by which the eight-vowel system transformed into a six-vowel one. Indian Persian has continued to use the older system, and has hence has been called a "petrification" of Classical Persian. This is apparent in words like ''sher'' (lion, now ''shīr'' in Iran) and rōz (day, now ''rūz)''. Notably, the
Dari Persian
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the Variety (linguistics), variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Politics of Afghanistan, Afghan government ...
of
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
also retains this old system. There have also been some changes in Indian Persian due to nativisation. Nasal vowels, which are not observed in Modern Persian, occur in the endings ''-ān'', ''-īn'', and ''-ūn'' (''mardāṅ, dīṅ, chūṅ'').
The situation is summarised by Matthews, who says that Persian in the Indian subcontinent is usually pronounced as if it were Urdu (Hindustani). Recently, there have been efforts in the subcontinent to switch to using Persian as it is pronounced in Iran.
Sociopolitics
Language has always been a dimension of Hindu-Muslim tension in the Indian subcontinent, and the Perso-Arabic elements in Indo-Aryan languages have played a part in this. In 19th-century British India, divisions on religious lines led to Hindu groups advocating to de-Persianise language, and Muslims embracing the Perso-Arabic element. Such tensions later contributed to the
Partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
. The most significant and lasting impact of the linguistic divide has been the emergence of Hindi and Urdu as two separate literary registers of Hindustani, both of which are recognised on national levels. Conscious attempts to alter language on such a basis have also been observed in other languages that have both Hindu and Muslim speech communities, such as Punjabi. Urdu has been undergoing further Persianisation in Pakistan, due to a need for new words and coinages to suit modern times.
In the modern era, though Persian is in disuse, Persian loanwords have continued to move into regional languages through Hindustani. A notable example is that of Pakistan, where the imposition of Urdu as
national language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
and its widespread use has led to a growing Perso-Arabic influence on Pakistan's
indigenous languages
An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. This language is from a linguistically distinct community that originated in the area. Indigenous languages are not neces ...
.
Zoroastrian Persians
The
Parsi community speaks a dialect of Gujarati which has been influenced by their ancestral language of Persian. In 1932, the first ever sound film in the Persian language, ''
Dokhtar-e-Lor,'' was produced in
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
by Parsi Indians. There is also a small population of Zoroastrian
Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious persecution in
Qajar Iran
Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...
and speak a
Dari dialect.
See also
*
Indo-Persian culture
Indo-Persian culture refers to a cultural synthesis present in the Indian subcontinent. It is characterised by the absorption or integration of Persian aspects into the various cultures of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The earliest introductio ...
*
Dobhashi
Dobhashi ( bn, দোভাষী, Dobhāṣī, bilingual) is a neologism used to refer to a historical Register (sociolinguistics), register of the Bengali language which borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It became ...
*
Lisan ud-Dawat
Lisaan ud-Da'wat or ''Lisaan o Da'wat il Bohra'' or ''Lisan ud-Dawat'' ( ar, لسان الدعوة, lit=language of the Da'wat, ''da'wat ni zabaan''; abbreviated LDB) is the language of the Dawoodi Bohras and Alavi Bohras, two Isma'ili Shi'a ...
, Perso-Arab-influenced Gujarati
*
Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments (book)
Gallery
File:Firman of Dara Shikoh MET sf1997-205a.jpg, ''Firman'' issued under Mughal Prince Dara Shikoh
Dara Shikoh ( fa, ), also known as Dara Shukoh, (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' ("Prince of High Rank" ...
, dated 1649-1650.
File:Marriage certificate of the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-57) to Zinat Mahal Begam, on 18 November 1840.jpg, Marriage certificate of last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar
Bahadur Shah II, usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' Victory) was born Mirza Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad (24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862) and was the twentieth and last Mughal Emperor as well a ...
, 1840.
File:Arjun hits the target.jpg, Scene from a ''Razmnama'' manuscript: Arjuna
Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...
hits the fish-eye target, Draupadi's swayamvara
Svayamvara ( sa, स्वयंवर, svayaṃvara, translit-std=IAST), in ancient India, was a method of marriage in which a woman chose a man as her husband from a group of suitors. In this context, in Sanskrit means 'self' and means 'g ...
.
File:"Krishna Holds Up Mount Govardhan to Shelter the Villagers of Braj", Folio from a Harivamsa (The Legend of Hari (Krishna)) MET DP231961.jpg, Page from a Persian translation of ''Harivamsa
The ''Harivamsa'' ( , literally "the genealogy of Hari") is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shlokas, mostly in the '' anustubh'' metre. The text is also known as the ''Harivamsa Purana.'' This text is believed to ...
'', describing Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
holding up Mount Govardhana.
File:Parrot addressing Khojasta in Tutinama commisioned by Akbar, c1556-1565.jpg, Page from a copy of the ''Tutinama
Tutinama (), literal meaning "Tales of a Parrot", is a 14th-century series of 52 stories in Persian. The work remains well-known largely because of a number of lavishly illustrated manuscripts, especially a version containing 250 miniature paintin ...
''. While this copy was commissioned by Akbar, the ''Tutinama'' itself was a 14th century translation to Persian drawing from the Sanskrit ''Śukasaptati
Śukasaptati, or ''Seventy tales of the parrot'', is a collection of stories originally written in Sanskrit. The stories are supposed to be narrated to a woman by her pet parrot, at the rate of one story every night, in order to dissuade her from ...
''.
File:Babur and Humayun go to see the Rhinoceros.jpg, Page from the Persian translation of Babur's memoirs, ''Baburnama
The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...
''.
File:Tumanba Khan, His Wife, and His Nine Sons.jpg, Page from a copy of ''Chingiz Nama'' (Book of Genghis
''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr /> Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan''
, birth_name = Temüjin
, successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan
, spouse =
, issue =
, house = Borjigin
, ...
), itself an extract of the Jami al-Tawarikh
The ''Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh'' (Persian/Arabic: , ) is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate. Written by Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318 AD) at the start of the 14th century, the breadth of coverage of the work h ...
. Commissioned under Akbar.
File:Hasht-Bihisht Amir Khusro Met 1.jpg, Folio from a copy of Amir Khusro's '' Hasht-Bihisht'', dated 1597–98.
File:Calligraphic fragment in nasta'liq.jpg, Verses of the Beloved - love poetry by Munshi Ram, Bengal, 18th century.
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*Chopra, R. M., The Rise, Growth And Decline of Indo-Persian Literature, Iran Culture House, New Delhi, 2012.
External links
Perso-Indica- Online research and publishing project on Indo-Persian treatises and translations
{{Languages of Pakistan
Languages of South Asia
Cultural history of India
Persian language
Mughal Empire
History of Pakistan
Cultural history of Pakistan
Persian language in Pakistan