I wanna set the record straight on language + the subcontinent. A lot of times when I’m like English is colonial kharra!! Sum parha likha jaahil is lyk: actually madam do u know that Urdu is also imperial language? What abt Siraiki/Sindhi/Punjabi/Pashto being fucked over by Urdu?

Firstly, um, where do I even start. Ok, so before there was ever a formalised Hindi or an Urdu, and when there was always Punjabi/Sindhi/Tamil/all other indigenous and regional languages, the Subcontinent still had BOOMING commerce and trade between provinces from Kabul to Dhaka

What does one need, before and beyond empires and emperors, to conduct commerce and trade across regions of various languages and cultures? A commonly understood language. This language is understood in English academic discourse as “commonspeak” or “Hindustani” (both inaccurate)

And what was it called most widely? Why, Aam Bhasha, of course which does translate most accurately to “commonspeak” but speakers of Urdu/Hindi/aam bhasha must feel the wider connotations of the word “aam” here, as in, the opposite of “khaas”/particular/special

Aam Bhasha is and was obviously not safe from the influence of politics, power, and economics but it was also a language constantly in flux, varying dialectically from where it was being spoken for what purpose and by who.

For example, a northern subcontinetal’s aam bhasha might be understood by a southerner’s but it would sound different, might carry unfamiliar or different words, have different languages as its substrate or superstrate, but conclusively: be as effective as poss for trade.

This is not a concept unique to the Subcontinent. Middle English (c. 1200-1500) boasted a similar commonspeak with variations. Commonspeaks are eventually a mix of political dynamics but the authority of language lies not just with the “masses” but also with the dynamics of life

These dynamics often evade centralised political control. They “elaborate” different cultures’ languages so concepts odd to one’s land or life indigeniety can be conversed about — leads to language for cultural production above just economics — but avoid “standardisation.”

Lang standardization, h/e, is a prerequisite for imperial control & creation/proliferation of class. The Mughals wanted it, the English wanted it, the White Empire wanted/imposes it, “Grammar Nazis,” cultural elites, newspapers, academic journals and lit reviews all police it.

Let’s talk subcontinent. When Babur baby came to rule Hindustan (he was a diaspora from Uzbek area and his daddy wanted him to one day rule Samarkand), he got introduced to the vast linguistic diversity of Subconti. He wins every Muslim heart by Turkish and turkic vibes & then

Slowly starts cementing Persian as the “official language” of the Mughal Empire. The Persians are rich af at this point, we’re living in a Persianate world, and creating a Persian supremacy

meant the alignment of classes to the Empire, of the Empire to its Persian neighbors, and a Muslim imperialism without too much feminist-Marxism to actually give the downtrodden/“masses” an upper hand.

Plus, the historical subcontinent had a lot more self-respect than it does today. Some empires did not believe the Mughal empire undermined their own reigns or languages over their regions + many were used to speaking 2 or more language —

indigenous language, aam bhasha, and Persian did not seem too manic a challenge I’m guessing, cause Iran was also right there so trade & convo not just with Mughal Empire and its balls but also the Persian Empire. Some elites must have spoken only their lang + Persian, others wud

probably vibe on indigenous language and aam bhasha and maybe working understanding of Persian (obviously, access to education & money mobility in terms of economics and culture must have emerged now, idk).

Within all of this, you also had folks who did not fux with Persian as the supreme civilisational language. Sanskrit was still very important to many. Hindu/Muslim differences were also a thing. Kutti elites were also a thing. Political control on the basis of religion, also tea.

Now idk the specifics of when exactly or for what exact motivation but a certain intelligentsia class also starts developing sophisticated iterations of the aam bhasha w cultural and religious motivations.

Enter Urdu & Hindi. Urdu partic entered not 2 fight the officialdom of Persian but 2 challenge its vibe in terms of poetry + literature. These were probably #subcontinentrules baddies who saw some tea in Persian but were like, mera dil hai Hindustani. Conjecture. But tea prolly.

For example, Dara Shikoh’s convo w his Sufi daddy Mullah Laal took place in Lahore entirely in Urdu but literally as they were speaking, a scribe was writing their convo in Persian for eventual publication and distribution. In Englaaaaand, this happened in the Middle Ages:

Court was always conducted and written in French but at one point, to “elaborate” Eng, they started using Eng whilst speaking but as one was speaking, transcriptions would happen in French. Call it civilization development, elitism, or transformation of culture under capitalism.

Eventually when the firangi (white person) came to the subcontinent, they first mastered aam bhasha. Cause trade. Cause labor. Cause alignment against Mughal “imperialism” and empire. They also weren’t very good at Persian. Cause they are jaahils & I hate them + Persianate World

was Muslim and I hope I don’t have to elaborate that a lot of Western supremacy was both impressed by and trying to challenge the supremacy & broad influence of Islam to the world. Yeah bro. But also bc Islam was less corrupted by patriarchy back then from now. I think. I hope.

Anyway when the British started getting lots of land and pendejos/ghaddars on their side cause money, they realized the hardest part about conquering the subconti was its intellect and education (mostly done on localised af Sufi principles, not a lot of forced language loss etc.)

So what do they do?

http://home.iitk.ac.in/~hcverma/Article/Article%20by%20IITM%20student%20in%20Indian%20education.pdf

You can also read a racist version and interpretation of this ^ in our very own Friday Times at: https://www.thefridaytimes.com/the-infamous-macaulay-speech-that-never-was/