| The Linguistic Bond II |
| "The Indo-Aryan Link and the Birth of Indic Languages" |
| The current gamut of languages spoken by the people of the Indian subcontinent share a common history. Here, we seek to trace the origins of present-day Indic languages from the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European super-family |
| The Easternmost branch of the Indo-European languages is termed the Indo-Iranian languages group. This appellation arises primarily due to the fact that these languages are primarily spoken by people in the Indian subcontinent and areas around and including present-day Iran. |
| Indo-Aryan languages form a subgroup within the Indo-Iranian languages. The term "Indic" is often implemented in place of the tag "Indo-Aryan", to avoid the negative connotations associated with the term "Aryan", as the Aryan Invasion Theory is a hotly disputed issue. However, the term "Indic" (or "Indo-Aryan") is a term used in Indo-European linguistics and is not an exhaustive catalogue of all the languages spoken in the Indo-Iranian region. Hence, a language like Mittani (spoken by the people of an ancient Middle Eastern civilization located in present-day Northern Syria) shares a common ground with Indic languages despite never having had any historical, political or cultural connections with any of the civilizations in the Indo-Iranian region. |
| The most significant language in this group, one surpassing chronological age, is Vedic Sanskrit. By around the fifth century BC, Sanskrit was codified and standardized by the Indian grammarian Panini, leading to the development of 'Classical' Sanskrit by around 200 BC. However, this led to the growth of a large degree of divergence between the written form and the spoken form, the latter continually changing due to a constant rate of linguistic evolution. Subsequently, Sanskrit as a spoken language was considerably rarified, being replaced by its descendants, the Prakrits. One reason for the growth of the Prakrits was its widespread use among those outside the realm of nobility. Sanskrit continued to be relegated into the higher strata of nobility until it eventually became a language of Hindu rituals, as the Vedas were written in Sanskrit. |
| With literary languages enjoying the patronage of local kings as opposed to the religious orthodoxy, the earliest extant use of Prakrit are in the inscriptions of Emperor Asoka. While the various Prakritic languages are associated with different patron dynasties, religions and literary traditions, none of these languages developed into a "mother tongue" in any area of India. |
| The Prakrit languages used extensively in early drama – Sauraseni, Magadhi and Maharashtri, as well as Jain Prakrit – each represent a distinct tradition of literature within the history of India. Ardhamagadhi was another definitive form of Prakrit used extensively in Jain scriptures. Some scholars have questioned the veracity of the evolutionary relationship between Sanskrit and the Prakrits, but the literature of the period asserts a definite relationship between the languages. |
| A prime development in the evolution of modern-day Indic languages is the birth of Apabramsa between the fifth and tenth century AD. Increasing numbers of literary texts began to appear in Apabramsa, with the ‘Sravakachar’ of Devasena (circa 930 AD) considered to be the first book produced in Hindi. |
| Between the thirteenth and fifteenth century AD, the growing Mughal presence in the subcontinent oversaw the induction of Persian as a language of influence here. However, interaction between local Indian Sanskrit-derived Prakrits and Arabic languages spoken in the courts of the subcontinent's northern regions, produced Urdu. Widely believed to have originated in Delhi, Urdu rapidly gained ascendance as the language of the courts and the Muslim population of the sultanates. This Indo-Aryan language was based on a proto-Hindi Apabramsa tongue known as "Khadi Boli" and soon absorbed a significant number of Persian and Arabic words into its vocabulary. |
| The prime Apabramsa languages formed in this period were Bengali and Hindi. The inter-relationship between Hindi and Urdu can be attributed to their common origins in Apabramsa. Other languages like Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi also display their common roots with other languages for the same reason. |
| The prominent form of Hindi primarily employed in Hindi-speaking areas was the "Braj bhasha". Replaced by the "Khadi Boli" dialect in the nineteenth century AD, modern Hindi draws heavily from Perso-Arabic form of this dialect. However, after Partition, the State-endorsed "Sanskritization" of Hindi has ensured the removal of most Perso-Arabic words from the language in literary and official texts. While the Perso-Arabic form still finds widespread usage, the "Sanskritized" version of Hindi has ensured the emergence of Hindi, in the format we know today. |