Culture: Language

 LANGUAGE OF THE PARSIS

By SUDITI UNIYAL

Persian, one of the oldest languages in the world, is directly related to the Indo-European language and is said to be a branch of the language. “It was the language of the people who ruled Iran” (Banoo, 2017, 2). When the Arabs annexed Persia, they failed to impose Arabic as the official language. The people were forced to learn the Arabic script but Persian became a cultural language. In the mid 7th century, many Parsis came to Gujarat to escape religious persecutions. This is how the language first emerged in the country. In the 11th century, the Ghaznavid conquests further spread Persian language across and encouraged the continuous flow of soldiers, scholars, travelers etc., into the country for centuries.

For a long time, it was used in South Asia, and was an important official language especially during the Mughal period, under powerful rulers like Akbar. Amit Dey, a senior historian, wrote that although their native language was Turkic, Akbar used the language to bring together different ethnic and religious groups. Thus, it was “used by Brahmins and Khatris who worked as clerks or merchants for social mobility”. They even learned the etiquettes to interact with the people. The language had a major impact on many aspects of life, especially on cultural, literary, religious and political aspects. The Mughal period was a time when the bond between the two countries peaked especially when it came to education and literature. Apart from it becoming the language of diplomacy and administration, Indian poets used it as the language of literature and poetry. The rulers allowed the translation of Ramayana and Mahabharata into Persian. It has also been seen that Persian exerted a strong influence on Indian languages, more specifically North Indian languages. In fact, words such as adalat, zamana, fasl, roz, etc are used even today in daily life. Persian’s reach extended beyond courts through Sufi missionaries. The missionaries used the language solely for religious purposes, and used the local languages to interact with others. Persian was integrated into the local culture with the spread of Sufism and Bhakti movement.  

“Pages from the Ramayana translated into Persian script”

“Dictionary compiled under emperors Akbar and Jahangir.” 

“In the initial phase of the British administration, Persian was used as the language of the courts, correspondence and record-keeping.” The education policy in 1835 imposing English as the official language of governance resulted in a sudden decline of the language. Emergence of regional languages or dialects, like Urdu, caused a further decline in the use of the language (Chaudhuri, 2020). “Persian was a language of the elite. Urdu emerged as the common tongue of the masses and soldiers of Mughal camps” said Dey (Chaudhuri, 2020). The British preferred the vernacular languages over Persian. Finally the language was banned from being used for official business. 

References

IMAGES - https://map-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_2024-02-01-134725-1.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/India%2C_Mughal%2C_early_17th_century_-_An_Illuminated_Folio_from_the_Royal_Manuscript_of_the_Farhang-i_Jahangiri_%28_-_2013.318.a_-_Cleveland_Museum_of_Art.jpg

Abidi, S. A. H.; Gargesh, Ravinder (2008), "Persian in South Asia", Language in South Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 103–120, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511619069.007, ISBN 978-0-511-61906-9

 Influence of Persian in India by Tota Banoo 2017 IJCRT | Volume 5, Issue 1 February 2017 | ISSN: 2320-2882

Cradle of the Dying by Prasun Chaudhuri Published 13.09.20