Hindustani language, lingua franca of India. Hindustani began to develop during the 13th century ce in and around the Indian cities of
Delhi and
Meerut in response to the increasing linguistic diversity that resulted from Muslim hegemony. In the 19th century its use was widely promoted by the British, who initiated an effort at standardization. Hindustani is widely recognized as India’s most common lingua franca, but its status as a vernacular renders it difficult to measure precisely its number of speakers.
Origin
Hindustani was initially used to facilitate interaction between the speakers of
Khari Boli (a regional
dialect that developed out of Shauraseni
Apabhramsha and is now considered a variety of
Hindi) and the speakers of
Persian,
Turkish, and
Arabic who migrated to North India after the establishment of Muslim hegemony in the early 13th century ce.
Hindustani’s popularity increased as a result of its use by poets such as
Amīr Khosrow (1253–1325),
Kabīr (1440–1518),
Dadu (1544–1603), and Raḥīm (1556–1627), the court poet of
Akbar. Its use by
Sufi saints such as Bābā Farīd (flourished late 12th century) and various poets of the
Natha tradition (which combined practices from
Buddhism,
Shaivism, and
Hatha Yoga in an effort to reach immortality) also increased its popularity.
Vocabulary
Though Khari Boli supplied its basic vocabulary and
grammar, Hindustani also borrowed freely from Persian. Among the Persian words that became common are many concerning administration (e.g.,
adalat ‘court,’
daftar ‘office,’
vakil ‘pleader,’
sipahi ‘soldier,’
shahar ‘city,’
kasba‘small town,’
zila ‘district’),
dress (e.g.,
kamiz ‘shirt,’
shal ‘shawl’),
cosmetics (e.g.,
itra ‘perfume,’
sabun ‘soap’), furniture (e.g.,
kursi ‘chair,’
mez ‘table,’
takht ‘dais’), and professions (e.g.,
bajaj‘draper,’
chaprasi ‘peon,’
dukandar ‘shopkeeper,’
haqim ‘physician,’
dalal ‘broker,’
halvai‘confectioner’).
Hindustani also borrowed Persian prefixes to create new words. Persian affixes became so assimilated that they were used with original Khari Boli words as well. The process of hybridization also led to the formation of words in which the first element of the compound was from Khari Boli and the second from Persian, such as
rajmahal ‘palace’ (
raja ‘royal, king’ +
mahal ‘house, place’) and
rangmahal ‘fashion house’ (
rang ‘colour, dye’ +
mahal ‘house, place’).
