The Urdu culture of the sub-continent

The Urdu is a centuries old language. It is a language that was developed from several other languages. It is considered as the sweetest language of the world. The following are some of the very interesting facts and aspects of the Urdu literature.

• The initiation of the Urdu culture

The soldiers of the British Army who were from different races developed the Urdu language. Eventually the royal courts too picked it up as an official language. Before, the official language of royal courts was Persian. However due to the Persian the Hindus in the state used to feel left out or dejected. The Mughal integrated a great deal of the Sanskrit words into the Persian language to make Urdu. A plethora of Persian words was also added to Urdu to increase its multi-culture and multi-ethnic appeal.

• The pre-partition centers of the Urdu culture

Before the partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan, the following were the thriving centers of the Urdu language.

1. Delhi
2. Lucknow
3. Hyderabad Deccan
4. Ahmadabad
5. Azimpur
6. Bihar

• The post-partition centers of the Urdu culture

The above-mentioned cities are still the centers of Urdu culture. Along with that, the city of Karachi in Pakistan is also a great centre of Urdu speaking people. Although the city of Karachi is in Sindh, however the Karachi is the home of many Indian migrated generations and Biharis.

• The Urdu culture in Pakistan

Only 6% of people of Pakistan have Urdu as the mother tongue. Nevertheless, the population of Karachi is very large and it is promoting the cause of Urdu continuously. The fact that the Urdu is the national language of Pakistan is also a big factor in increasing the popularity of Urdu. Karachi is the home of many publishing groups, which are consistently producing excellent Urdu popular fiction. This is also a reason why Urdu has reached all the parts of Pakistan.

• The Urdu culture in India

It is an unfortunate fact that the Urdu literature is not thriving in India. The Indian lot calls Urdu Hindi. Anyhow, it does not really matter because on the international forums they are promoting Urdu. So what if they call it Hindi. The Indian film industry is a money-producing giant for India. For the international appeal, they are sticking to the Urdu language. Their Urdu scripts and songs are not outstanding in terms of the language style and quality however; they are good at popularizing the language.

• The promotion of the Urdu culture

The promotion of the Urdu culture is possible by various ways. As mentioned above the Urdu culture is spread through the popular fiction and through the movies in Pakistan and India respectively. Efforts should be made to enhance the quality of the language and the promotion in both countries.

Remember Urdu is a great source of national integrity and India-Pakistan harmony. Therefore, there must be efforts to promote it on the individual levels and on the government levels.