
Unformatted text preview: URDU/HINDI:
AN ARTIFICIAL DIVIDE The Politics of Language URDU/HINDI:
AN ARTIFICIAL DIVIDE
African Heritage, Mesopotamian
Roots, Indian Culture & British
Colonialism
Abdul Jamil Khan Algora Publishing
New York © 2006 by Algora Publishing
All Rights Reserved
No portion of this book (beyond what is permitted by
Sections 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976)
may be reproduced by any process, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the
express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-10: 0-87586-437-6 (soft cover)
ISBN-10: 0-87586-438-4 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-87586-439-2 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data —
Khan, Abdul Jamil.
The Politics of Language. Urdu/Hindi: an artificial divide: African heritage,
Mesopotamian roots, Indian culture & Bristish Colonialism / Abdul Jamil Khan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87586-438-4 (hard cover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-87586-437-6
(pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-87586-439-2 (ebook)
1. Urdu language—History. 2. Urdu language—Classification. 3. Hindi
language—History. 4. Hindi language—Classification. I. Title.
PK1971.K435 2006
491.4'3—dc22
2006010961 Cover Image: Hieroglyphs in stones, Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India
Image: © Paul C. Pet/zefa/Corbis
Photographer: Paul C. Pet Printed in the United States Abbreviations ABBREVIATIONS
Languages
AKK - Akkadian
ARAB, AR - Arabic
ARAM - Aramaic
ASY - Assyrian
BR - Brahui
ELAM - Elamite
GO - Gond
GR - Greek
HEB - Hebrew
HIN - Hindi
HITT - Hittite
HUR - Hurrian
HUR-MIT - Hurrian-Mitanni
KA - Kannada
KUR - Kurux
LAT - Latin
LEXI - Lingua Extinctorum Indica
MA - Malayalam
MAL - Malto
PERS - Persian
PKT - Prakrit
SKT - Sanskrit
S, SUM - Sumerian
TA - Tamil
TE - Telugu
URD - Urdu
Language Families and Types
AA - Austro-Asiatic
AM - Austric-Munda
DR - Dravidian
GEAS - Grand Euro-Asiatic Super Family vii Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
IA - Indo-Aryan
IE - Indo-European
LBW - Language of Business and Work
LOR - Language of Rearing
LRR - Language of Religious Ritual
LST - Language of Science and Technology
MAF - Mesopotamia Ancient Family
MIA - Middle Indo-Aryan
MEIA - Middle East Indo-Asiatic
MUNDRAVI - Munda-Dravidian (hybrid)
NEAS - North-Euro-Asiatic-Super Family
NIA - Neo-Indo-Aryan
PDR - Proto-Dravidian
PIE - Proto-Indo-European
PED - Proto-Elamo-Dravidian
PII - Proto-Indo-Iranian
PIR - Proto-Iranian
SAH - South Asian Hindustani
SEAS - South-Euro-Asiatic-Super Family
SEM - Semitic
Language Scripts
ABS - Asokan Brahmi Script
APS - Arabic Persian Script
CFS - Cuneiform Script
DNS - Dev-Nagari Script
GRS - Greco-Roman Script
PAS - Phoenician-Aramic Script
Miscellaneous
AAA - Aligarh Alumni Association
AMU - Aligarh Muslim University
BJP - Bhartiya Janta Party
DC - Delhi College
DED - Dravidian Etymological Dictionary viii Abbreviations
Desi - term for person from Indian subcontinent
EIC - East India Company
FWC - Fort William College
HMS - Hindu Maha Sabha
HPSV - Hearing, Perception, Speech and Vocalization System
INC - Indian National Congress
IRS - Indian Religion System
IVC - Indus-Valley Culture
MAOC - Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College
ML - Muslim League
MP - Madhaya Pradesh
PWM - Progressive Writers’ Movement
RV - Rig Ved
RSS - Rashtriya Soyam Sevak Sangh
TB - Tad Bhav (altered Sanskrit word)
TS - Tat Sam (pure Sanskrit word)
UP - Uttar Pradesh
WW - World War ix TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD
GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
MESOPOTAMIAN LANGUAGES
HINDI/URDU LITERATURE
URDU/HINDI POLITICS
GLOBALISM IN URDU/HINDI 3
5
5
6
6
6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 9 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 11 CHAPTER I. MESOPOTAMIAN ROOTS AND LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 SCIENTIFIC HISTORY: SUMMARIZED
1.2 TEXTBOOK HISTORY
1.3 EVOLUTION OF CLASSIFICATION 13
13
14
16
17 1.3.1 Language Families and Types 18 1.4 POLITICS OF LINGUISTIC SPLITS
1.5 A MYTHICAL DILEMMA IN MODERN LINGUISTICS
1.6 THE MYTHICAL WORLD OF SANSKRIT
1.7 INDOPHILISM AND INDO-EUROPEANISM
1.8 RACISM COAT-TAILED ON SANSKRIT
1.9 LINGUISTIC LIBERALISM
1.10 LANGUAGE AS A UTILITY IN INDIA
1.11 GRAMMAR TYPES AND SYNTAX
1.12 MIDDLE EAST FARMERS: PARENTS OF URDU/HINDI
1.13 CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER II. PHONETICS, LINGUISTICS AND GENETICS — DNA
2.0 INTRODUCTION
2.1 GENETICS BLUNTS LINGUISTIC RACISM xi 19
20
21
22
23
25
27
28
29
30
33
33
34 Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
2.2 SPEECH, GENES (FOXP2), AND LANGUAGE EVOLUTION
2.3 GREAT ARAB LINGUISTS
2.4 PHONETICS OF URDU/HINDI AND OTHERS
2.5 GROWTH, GRAMMAR, AND ACCIDENCE
2.6 CLASSIFICATION: A SCIENCE AND AN ART
2.7 RECONSTRUCTION BUSINESS
2.8 EMERGENCE OF SUPERFAMILIES
2.9 ALL CONNECTED — ONE LANGUAGE
2.10 INDO-ARYAN OR INDIAN URDU/HINDI
Urdu/Hindi 37
38
39
41
44
45
47
49
49
51 2.11 URDU/HINDI AND THE IE TIMELINE/GLOTTOCHROLOGY
Urdu/Hindi and Punjabi
Urdu/Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and Bengali
Kashmiri, Urdu/Hindi, and others
Persian and IA (Urdu/Hindi etc)
German/English, Persian, IA dialects 2.12 PROMOTION OF INDO-EUROPEANIST VIEWS
2.13 URDU/HINDI–DNA SCHEME
2.14 CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER III. MIDDLE EAST: SOURCE OF SEMITIC, DRAVIDIAN AND
INDO-EUROPEAN/SANSKRIT
3.0 INTRODUCTION
3.1 WEST ASIAN THEATER (SUMERIANS)
3.1.1 Sumerian Religion and Culture
3.1.2 Sumerian Lingustics
3.1.3 Sumerian Vocabulary in Urdu/Hindi
3.1.4 Sumerian Literature 3.2 THE ELAMITES AND PROTO-ELAMO-DRAVIDIAN (PED)
3.2.1 Elamite “Dravidian” Language of Iran 3.3 CENTRAL ASIAN POLYGLOT (EARLIEST ARYAN-IE)
3.3.1 Languages (Hurrian, Hittite, etc.)
3.3.2 Hittite Phonemes 3.4 AKKADIAN/ASSYRIAN (OLDEST ARABIC)
3.5 EARLIEST PERSIAN
3.6 EARLIEST SANSKRIT (VEDIC)
3.7 MESOPOTAMIAN PHONETICS AND PIE
3.8 MESOPOTAMIAN GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
3.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER IV. AUSTRIC-MUNDA-DRAVIDIAN AND OLDEST HINDI/URDU
4.0 INTRODUCTION
4.1 PRE-AUSTRIC PHASE
4.2 AUSTRIC PEOPLE’S CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
4.3 RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION
xii 53
53
53
53
53
53 55
56
57
59
59
59
61
61
62
64 66
68 70
73
74 74
76
78
79
80
80
83
83
83
84
85 Table of Contents
4.4 THE AUSTRIC OR MUNDA LANGUAGE
4.4.1 Munda and Its Dialects
4.4.2 Linguistic Features
4.4.3 Prefixes and Infixes of Austric-Munda 4.5 MUNDA-SPECIFIC VOCABULARY
4.6 MUNDA GENDER, NUMBER AND SYNTAX
4.7 GENERAL MUNDA VOCABULARY IN URDU/HINDI
4.8 THE DRAVIDIAN PHASE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION
4.9 MIDDLE EASTERN ROOTS OF DRAVIDIAN PEOPLE
4.10 DRAVIDIAN RELIGION AND CULTURE
4.11 PROTO-DRAVIDIAN IN PROTO-URDU
4.12 LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF PDR OR DRAVIDIAN (DR)
4.13 FIRST HYBRID-MUNDRAVI (PROTO-PKT/URDU)
4.14 DRAVIDIAN-SUFFIXES/PARTICLES IN URDU
4.15 VOCABULARY LOANS TO URDU/HINDI
4.16 DRAVIDIAN VERBS IN URDU
4.17 SOUND WORDS (ONOMATOPOEIA)
4.18 MUNDRAVI-PROTO-URDU
4.19 CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER V. SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT AND OLD-URDU/HINDI
5.0 INTRODUCTION
5.1 WRITTEN RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS
5.2 HINDUISM OR THE INDIAN RELIGIOUS SYSTEM (IRS)
5.3 MARCH OF TIME (HISTORY)
5.4 SANSKRIT-PRAKRIT SYSTEM
5.5 LINGUISTICS OF SKT-PKT
5.5.1 SKT’s Inflection and Evolution 86
87
88
89 89
90
91
94
95
96
97
98
98
99
100
105
106
107
108
109
109
109
110
112
114
115
117 5.6 SANSKRIT AND URDU/HINDI
5.7 LOANS INTO SKT
5.8 URDU’S VOCABULARY FROM SKT
5.8.1 SKT – Verbs
5.8.2 Relationships, Flora, Places, and Names
5.8.3 Household Items
5.8.4 Professions and Titles/Ranks
5.8.5 Adjectives and Adverbs
5.8.6 Social-Cultural, and Life of Mind
5.8.7 SKT’s Help in Grammar 5.9 LITERARY LEGACY OF SKT
5.10 PRAKRIT-OLD URDU/HINDI
5.11 LEXICAL EVOLUTION IN OLD URDU/HINDI
5.12 PKT-PALI LITERATURE (WORLD CLASS)
5.13 LINGUA EXTINCTORUM INDICA (LEXI) (IN OLD URDU)
5.14 CHAPTER SUMMARY xiii 118
118
120
120
122
122
122
122
123
123 124
127
128
129
131
131 Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
CHAPTER VI. ARABIC-PERSIAN: NEW SUBSTRATES FROM THE MIDDLE EAST 133
6.0 INTRODUCTION
133
6.1 HISTORY’S MARCH
134
6.2 THE ROLE OF ARABIC/PERSIAN
135
6.3 ARABIC-PERSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS
137
6.4 ARABIC VERBS IN URDU/HINDI
138
6.5 PERSIAN VERBS IN URDU/HINDI
140
6.6 GENERAL VOCABULARY FROM ARABIC-PERSIAN
141
6.6.1 Relationship Words
6.6.2 Food, Fruits and Edibles, etc.
6.6.3 Household Items/Environment
6.6.6 Body Parts
6.6.7 Adjectives and Adverbs
6.6.8 Social-Cultural, and Life of Mind
6.6.9 Adverbs, Pronominal and Qualifying Particles 6.7 PLURAL MAKING/GRAMMAR
6.8 PERSIAN AFFIXES
6.9 A GLIMPSE OF ARABIC LITERATURE
6.10 GLIMPSE OF PERSIAN LITERATURE
6.11 CHAPTER SUMMARY 141
141
141
144
144
145
145 146
147
148
150
151 CHAPTER VII. LANGUAGE OF SAINTS AND SULTANS
7.0 INTRODUCTION
7.1 EVOLVING HINDIWI-HINDI AND DISPERSAL
7.2 VARIETY IN PHONETICS AND VOCABULARY
7.3 EARLIEST NAGARI-HINDI-URDU
7.4 EARLY POETS – WRITERS OF THE NORTH 153
153
155
156
157
159 7.4.3 Khusro–The Pioneer of the Term Hindi
7.4.4 Some Religious-Liberals of Urdu/Hindi
7.4.5 Some Secular Poets 160
162
164 7.5 GUJRAT AND URDU/HINDI
7.6 LANGUAGE OF THE SOUTH (DECCAN)
7.6.1 Deccani Sufi Poets
7.6.2 Poet King, Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah (1565–1612) 7.7 PRE-MOGHUL HINDI AND URDU
7.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY 166
167
168
169 169
170 CHAPTER VIII. SECULAR MOGHULS AND SECULAR LANGUAGE
8.0 INTRODUCTION
8.1 HISTORICAL MARCH – BABAR TO BRITISH (1500–1900)
8.2 THE MOGHULS’ “SECULAR CULTURAL STATE”
8.3 URDU’S DOSE OF TURKISH
8.4 URDU’S PLACE IN THE MOGHUL PHASE
8.6 URDU: NEW BRAND NAME AND CULTURE xiv 171
171
171
173
174
175
179 Table of Contents
8.7 URDU’S LINGUISTIC GROWTH
8.8 POETS AND POETRY OF THE 18TH CENTURY – A GLIMPSE
8.8.1 Poets and Poetry of South India
8.8.2 Poets and Poetry of the North (East and West)
8.8.3 Poet Kings of Delhi
8.8.4 Lucknow Poetry and Culture (18th–19th Century)
8.8.5 Poets/Poetry of Other Places 8.9 PROSE: INDIAN UTILITY 180
181
182
183
186
186
189 191 8.9.1 Religious Utility Prose
8.9.2 Secular Prose 192
194 8.10 ADVENT OF LINGUISTIC SEPARATISM
8.11 CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER IX. URDU: OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF BRITISH INDIA
9.0 INTRODUCTION
9.1 LINGUISTIC DEVICES
9.2 THE EUROPEANS’ LOVE OF INDIA
9.3 SURGING BRITISH PHASE
9.4 ARYANISM’S BIRTH – THE IE FAMILY
9.5 COMMUNALISM; DIVIDE AND RULE
9.6 LANGUAGE OF EMPIRE – URDU
9.7 PROSE DEVELOPMENT
9.7.1 Fort William College (FWC)
9.7.2 Professors at FWC
9.7.3 FWC – Authors and Publications 9.8 DELHI COLLEGE (DC) 195
196
197
197
198
198
199
199
200
201
201
202
202
204 205 9.8.1 Urdu’s Evolution at Delhi College
9.8.2 Some Faculty of DC
9.8.3 Delhi Alumni’s Boost to Urdu 9.9 SURGING URDU PROSE 206
206
207 208 9.9.1 Ghalib and Urdu Prose (1797-1869)
9.10 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan/Scientific Society
9.10.1 Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898)
9.10.2 MAOC or Scientific Society and Urdu’s Growth
9.10.3 Other (Non-MAOC) Scholars 9.11 REGIONAL SOCIETIES AND URDU PROSE
9.12 URDU POETRY IN THE 19TH CENTURY
9.12.1 North Indian Poets
9.12.2 South Indian Poets
9.12.3 Urdu Poetry of Suburbia/Village 9.13 BRITISH POETS OF URDU
9.14 19TH CENTURY UTILITY, URDU
9.15 CHAPTER SUMMARY 208
209
209
211
212 213
215
215
219
219 220
222
223 xv Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
CHAPTER X. HINDI’S CREATOR: BRITISH BENGAL
10.0 INTRODUCTION
10.1 SCRIPTS AND EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY
10.2 HINDI’S SEED IN BENGAL (AT FORT WILLIAM)
10.3 DEFINITION OF NEO-HINDI
10.4 BENGALI’S HELP IN HINDI
10.5 HINDI WRITERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY
10.6 HINDI’S GROWTH
10.7 HINDI POETRY
10.8 HINDI LITERACY AND JOURNALISM
10.9 HINDI/URDU AND POLITICAL “ARYANISM”
10.9.1 Love and Hate in the Aryan Family 10.10 HINDI’S EXTERNAL HELP
10.11 BENGAL VS. HINDUSTAN
10.12 RADICALS OF HINDI MOVEMENT
10.13 SECULAR CONSERVATIVE: SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN
10.14 HINDI-URDU DUEL
10.14.1 Second Round 1870s
10.14.2 Third Round 1880s
10.14.3 Fourth Round 1890s
10.14.4 Fifth Round 1900 225
225
226
226
228
229
230
232
234
235
236
236 239
240
243
245
246
248
249
249
249 10.15 LINGUISTIC RACISM AND FREEDOM MOVEMENTS
10.16 CHAPTER SUMMARY 250
250 CHAPTER XI. PARTITION OF LANGUAGE, LAND, AND HEARTS
11.0 INTRODUCTION
11.1 BRITISH LEGACY AND POLITICS
11.2 MOVERS AND SHAKERS, THE LEADERS
11.3 EVENTS, EPISODES AND EXHORTATIONS
11.4 PROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ MOVEMENT
11.5 URDU/HINDI DEBACLE AND FOLLOW-UP
11.5.1 GANDHI’S TWINS – URDU/HINDI
11.6 STOP HINDI/URDU DEBACLE
11.7 SHOCK AND RECOVERY OF INDIAN URDU
11.8 “ISLAMIC URDU” OF PAKISTAN
11.9 DIVIDED LANGUAGE OF DIVIDED HEARTS
11.10 CHAPTER SUMMARY 253
253
254
254
255
259
260
262
263
265
268
271
273 CHAPTER XII. URDU THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY
12.0 INTRODUCTION
12.1 MODERN POETS AND POETRY
12.2 MUSHAIRA CULTURE
12.3 MUSHAIRA – ORGANIZERS – POETS
12.4 URDU PROSE/CULTURAL FLOW
12.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY 275
275
275
283
285
288
293 xvi Table of Contents
CHAPTER XIII. HINDI’S EVOLUTION THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY
13.0 INTRODUCTION
13.1 LANGUAGE EVOLUTION AND STREAMS
13.2 CREATIVITY AND SUBSTITUTION
13.3 PROGRESSIVE WRITERS’ MOVEMENT (PWM) AND HINDI
13.4 MODERN HINDI POETRY
13.4.1 RECENT POETRY
13.5 HINDI PROSE
13.6 PROSE LITERATURE (LIFE-OF-MIND PROSE)
13.7 MUSLIMS’ HINDI
13.8 ISLAMIC CREDENTIAL OF HINDI
13.8.1 HINDI’S RELIGIOUS ISLAMIC LITERATURE
13.9 HINDI’S ARABIC PHONEMES/DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT
13.10 CHAPTER SUMMARY 295
295
295
297
301
301
306
308
309
310
310
311
312
314 CHAPTER XIV. URDU/HINDI: A SHOW BIZ POWER
14.0 INTRODUCTION
14.1 FILM LANGUAGE – QUALITY CONTROL
14.2 BIRTH OF DRAMA/STAGE
14.3 COMMERCIAL STAGE: EVOLUTION
14.4 DRAMA ACADEMICS
14.5 DRAMA ANTHOLOGY
14.6 URDU OR HINDI OF THE FILM WORLD
14.7 FILM TITLES AND POLITICS
14.8 FILMS AND THE LUCKNOW URDU ACCENT
14.9 SILVER SCREEN ANTHEMS/SONGS
14.10 FILM SONGS, HUMANISM/DEVOTIONALISM
14.11 FILM’S VISION: ‘HINDUSTANIAT’ AND URDU
14.12 CHAPTER SUMMARY 315
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
330
331
332 CHAPTER XV. URDU/HINDI OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD
15.0 INTRODUCTION
15.1 UNITED KINGDOM/EUROPE
15.2 USA AND CANADA
15.2.1 URDU/HINDI – USA
15.2.2 LANGUAGE CENTERS/AUTHORS
15.2.3 URDU/HINDI JOURNALISM
15.2.4 POETRY AND MUSHAIRA CULTURE AND SINGERS’ CONCERT
15.2.5 AMERICAN POETS OF URDU AND HINDI
15.3 URDU/HINDI AROUND THE WORLD
15.4 URDU/HINDI FUTURE IN THE DIASPORA
15.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY 333
333
333
335
336
337
339
339
340
344
346
346 xvii Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
CHAPTER XVI. URDU/HINDI SCRIPTS: COMMON ORIGIN
16.0 INTRODUCTION
16.1 MYTHS ABOUT WRITING
16.2 A TIME LINE OF WRITING (GLOBAL)
16.3 SOUTH ASIANS’ POPULAR VIEW
16.4 PHONETIC ALPHABETS
16.5 EARLIEST ALPHABETS
16.6 ARAMAIC TO GREEK-ROMAN
16.7 URDU’S ARABIC SCRIPT
16.7.1 Miniature Letters/Connectivity/Vowels 16.8 NAGARI (HINDI) SCRIPT
16.9 ARABIC(-URDU)-NAGARI EXCHANGE
16.10 INDIAN WRITING SYSTEM SYLLABIC/ALPHABETIC
16.11 POLITICS OF SCRIPTS AND INDUS VALLEY
16.12 CHAPTER SUMMARY
CHAPTER XVII. MESOPOTAMIAN REALISM AND RE-CLASSIFICATION
17.0 INTRODUCTION
17.1 LINGUISTS AND THE CHURCH
17.2 MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION
17.3 LINGUISTIC ISSUES AND RECLASSIFICATION
17.3.1 Hypothetical Phonemes of PIE
17.3.2 Features of IE and Semitic
17.3.3 Degeneration and Glotto Chronology 17.4 TATSAM AND TAD-BHAV: DILEMMA/DECEPTIONS
17.5 MESOPOTAMIA ANCIENT FAMILY (MAF)
17.6 NEW CLASSIFICATION
17.6.1 The New Classification: Three Grand Super-Families 17.7 MEINDO-ASIATIC (MEIA) SUPER FAMILY
17.7.1 MEIA Cultural Dimension
17.7.2 Linguistic Links MEIA 347
347
347
349
350
350
351
353
353
356 357
358
358
360
361
363
363
364
366
368
368
368
369 371
372
377
378 381
381
385 17.8 HINDUSTANI-SOUTH ASIAN OR A SUPER FAMILY
17.9 CHAPTER SUMMARY 385
387 BIBLIOGRAPHY 389 INDEX 397 xviii Transliteration for Urdu/Hindi Words *Note: Transliteration is based on S. K. Chatterji (1972) pp. XXV-XXXIV 1 FOREWORD
The story of Urdu/Hindi, the lingua franca of the Indo-Pakistani people, is the
story of one language with two separate scripts and with two names: Hindi, when
written in Nagari, and Urdu, when written in Arabic. This book is thorough, complete, and free from religious dogmas, and the theories it elaborates are based solely
on evidence derived from studies of evolution, integrated with studies of man’s oldest
language, Sumerian. It exposes the Europeans’ policy (led by British India) in pioneering the concept of mythical races linked to linguistic families, i.e., Semitic, and
Aryan/IE, which led to anti-Semitism, religious nationalism, and India’s religionbased partition and politics. The story of the division of language mirrors the latter
policy, which is unraveled in the book. Adopting the most recent evidence of the evolution of human language, starting from an early base in Africa, the book records its
dispersal outward from the Middle East, or Mesopotamia, by farmers, and traces the
creation of new names, such as IE, Semitic, and Dravidian.
The book presents a cumulative/synthetic plan describing Urdu’s evolution
over some 10,000–12,000 years with major contributions from India’s two oldest language families, Austric-Munda and Dravidian, followed much later by others such as
Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian; this apparently unsettles the currently held view of
Urdu/Hindi as a daughter dialect of Sanskrit, a 19th-century idea rooted in Hindu religious myth, the German myth of an Aryan race and its supposed hypothetical language proto-Indo European (PIE) — a scholarly invention — the presumed mother
of IE, SKT, and grandmother of Latin and other languages which have been said to be
derived from them. A major and also unique segment on Mesopotamian languages
reveals the origin of Dravidian, Semitic, Arabic, and Indo-European (IE), including
Sanskrit, in the Middle East as hybrids of the simplest Sumerian, Elamite, etc.,
refuting all racial/religious claims of PIE, HEB, and SKT. The evolution of English is
cited in parallel in the book, and is shown to originate not from a dissolution of PIE/
Gothic but to be a cumulative from Pictic, Celtic, Latin, Old French, and AngloSaxon German. 3 Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide
A new classification based on grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and geography,
and free from religion/racial myth, is presented as the other thesis in the book. As a
work of history the book carries a message, especially for the Indo-Pakistani people,
as it uncovers the very first vector, “mythical/racial” linguistics, as a proximate cause
for the partition, and also for escalating Hindu vs. Muslim, and Aryan vs. Dravidian
polemics. Urdu’s history is also enmeshed with man’s oldest (written) religious ideas/
terms, which were written down in Mesopotamia, e.g., names of gods, i.e., Indira,
Mitra, Siva, Allah, rab, etc., which are shared by Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Christians, and is enmeshed as well with Mesopotamia’s rich vocabulary and grammar —
shared among Arabic, Sanskrit, Dravidian, and Persian; these topics remain isolated
in the obscurity of advanced scholarship.
The book may be seen as a peace mission with a global perspective, free from
mythical dogma. The history of languages, culture, and religion from about 300 BC
onwards has divided man into Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and other groups; the
history between 300 BC and 3000 BC can reunite him to a common heritage of
culture, religious ideas, sciences, and a common linguistic melting pot with a single
shared script in Mesopotamia, centered at Iraq, and inclusive of its eastern end
(western India) and western (Egypt/Greece) range of influence. Besides this shared
heritage, the Indo-Pakistani people will find another scientific perspective in the
book, their advent from common genetic parents, termed “Adam # 5 and Eve G,”
mutant/migrants from Africa.
A synthetic and evolution-based work, the book involves many disciplines.
The author, a physician, had already learned six languages: Urdu, Hindi, English,
Persian, Arabic, and some SKT before engaging in this effort. Acquiring the requisite
knowledge in the other fields implies a rather intensive labor of love, and love of a
challenge. Postponing further self-analysis for now, I must highlight some core
research findings scattered in the seventeen chapters. The book follows a historic
timeline from chapters III to X, including Mesopotamia (chapter III) and India
(chapters IV to X), and focuses on the evolution of hybrid Urdu along with a brief
cultural review. The first two chapters offer an overview, language classification, and
a basic course on phonetic/alphabets and grammar types, i.e., isolating, agglutinating,
inf...
View
Full Document