How Persian became the ‘English of the era’

Syllabus: GS1/History

Context

• Persian has deeply influenced India’s language and literature for centuries, and everyday speech, shaping administration, poetry, and vocabulary in Hindi, Urdu, and regional cultures.

Origin of Persian Language

• The origin of the Persian language lies in ancient Iran and spans over 2,500 years of linguistic evolution. 
• It belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.
• It became the language of the Persian Empire and was widely spoken in the ancient days ranging from the borders of India in the east, Russian in the north, the southern shores of the Persian Gulf to Egypt and the Mediterranean in the west.
• Over the centuries Parsi has changed to its modern form and today Persian is spoken primarily in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan.

Persian Language in India

• Persian Influence on Indian Languages: A significant portion of everyday Hindi vocabulary is derived from Persian. Its influence extended to Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, and other regional languages.
• India as the Centre of Persian Literature: From the time of Emperor Akbar, India became a global hub of Persian literary activity, by 1700 India had more Persian-literate people than Iran.
• Language of Diplomacy and Governance: Persian served as the official language of administration and diplomacy for centuries.
• Exchange of Culture: The Indo-Gangetic plain and the peninsula to its south have long been crossroads of transregional exchange.
• Within these flows, Persian texts and speakers moved across West, Central, and South Asia from the 11th century through expanding, dense networks. 

Evolution of Persian Language in India

• Dynasities in India: From the mid-11th century, the Ghaznavid dynasty ruled much of Punjab from Lahore, bringing with them Persianate institutions and practices.
  • When the Ghazni Turks arrived in the 11th century, they brought Persian poets with them.
• Language of Governance: As regions such as Delhi, Kannauj, Gwalior, Ujjain, Bihar, and Banaras came under Muslim rule, a new hub of Persian learning emerged.
  • By the 14th century, Persian had become the principal language of governance across South Asia, used by vast revenue and judicial bureaucracies under the Delhi Sultanate, and later the Mughal Empire.
• Administration: A large share of these loanwords relates to administration: kagaz, rasid, vakil, diwani, salahkar, chaprai.
  • Administrative units such as shahar, tahsil, mohalla, pargana, zila are all Persian. 
  • Even the postal lexicon: Khat, lifafa, pata, khabar, and akhbar have Persian roots.
• Persian shaped the vocabularies of music and games: Tabla, sitar, rubab, shahnai, nagara, sarod; and shatrank, tash, patang, caugan (polo), kushti, and pahalvani. 
• Architecture: Diwaar, haveli, makaan, manzil, baramda, burj, kila, mahal.
• Persian vocabulary also entered Indian religious thought: In the Sikh tradition, key terms include hukm (‘grace of God’), langar (‘communal meal’), and khalsa (‘community of sworn initiates’).
• Mughal Period: The decisive shift came in 1582, when Akbar made Persian the official language of the empire.
  • In administration and education alike, Persian became dominant: state records, reports, and chronicles were all written in it.
• Geographically Expansion: In 18th-century Bihar, both Hindu and Muslim zamindars founded madrasas where Hindu literati taught Persian. 
• East India Company’s official language: In 1765, Shah Alam II granted the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to the Company on the condition that Persian remain the court language.
  • The Company, unable to overhaul existing systems, retained Persian across revenue, judicial, and police administration. 
  • It was, then, only Britain’s East India Company that made large investments in Persian, which remained the Company’s official language of law and bureaucracy until the administrative reforms of 1832–37.”
• Replacement with Urdu: In 1832–37 the Company replaced Persian with Urdu (and later other vernaculars) in administration.
  • The civil and criminal codes were translated, retaining extensive Arabic-Persian vocabulary. 
• The rise of new imperial and vernacular languages eventually undermined Persian.

Source: IE