Urdu the Beautiful

Urdu the Beautiful

The beautiful language, once known to be spoken by the cultured elite of the society, rose to popularity during the Delhi Sultanate in the 13^th century. After the Ghurids and the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals also established Urdu as an official language.

Many consider Urdu as a mixture of other languages being spoken in the sub-continent at the time of it’s rise, particularly the 12^thcentury and later. It is commonly believed that the term Urdu refers to ‘Lashkar’, a term that describes a unit or company directly related to an army. It is also widely believed that Urdu was developed by the troops in the Muslim armies of that era. These troops belonging to different regions are said to have established a mutual language.

Urdu is heavily influenced by Arabic, Persian and Turkic. Although it also contains words adopted from other languages such as Sanskrit, Punjabi, Pushto and so on, these three languages are considered the base of modern Urdu.

Ever since its rise to popularity, Urdu has been the language of art. It has been one of the premier languages of poetry in South Asia for two centuries, and has developed a rich tradition in a variety of poetic genres. ‘The Ghazal’ in Urdu represents the most popular form of subjective music and poetry, while the ‘Nazm’ exemplifies the objective kind, often reserved for narrative, descriptive, didactic or satirical purposes. Under the broad head of the Nazm we may also include the classical forms of poems known by specific names.

Urdu’s popularity in the region was taken to new heights with the help of many great poets. The likes of Amir Khusro, Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal and so on, all took Urdu’s magnificence to a new level. They brought forward the true beauty of Urdu. Their mesmerizing verses and couplets were revered by all in the region. Anyone who understood the language could enjoy all the beautiful ways it could be used in.

Although it was once considered a language spoken only by Muslims, Urdu became widely famous across the Indian Sub-continent. It was revered by people all over India, regardless of caste, creed or religion. There have quite a few Hindu poets of Urdu as well.

The tradition of reciting and writing Urdu poetry continued even after the division of the sub-continent and the Independence of Pakistan also saw the rise of many other great poets. The likes of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Faraz, Perveen Shakir are few of the many that kept the beauty of the language alive.

Although many tend to enjoy Urdu poetry through forward texts and other such modern ways, the real beauty of the language is immense, and such ways are hardly a way of appreciating its magnificence.

Posted by Fouad Ashraf on Oct 18 2011. Filed under Editorial, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry