A language that refuses to be caged

Sudhirendar Sharma

Sudhirendar Sharma

Renu Behl, author of the story on gender discrimination Draupadi has woken up, reminds the reader that Urdu was and continues to be the language of the land of the five rivers. This is one of the sixteen short stories written by non-muslims in the volume Whose Urdu Is It Anyway, collated to support the argument that religion is not connected to language. And if language gets yoked to a religion, in this case Urdu with Muslim, it does no good to either the language or the religion.

Whose Urdu is it anyway

Ever since Urdu got adopted the official language of Pakistan, it has been considered the language of muslims, or to be more precise, the language of Indian.muslims. But that seems erroneous because Urdu was born out of the cultural hybridization in the Indian subcontinent during 18th century. What we know as Urdu today can be traced back to Turkish, Arabic, and Persian influence, all of which arrived in the country through waves of trade and conquests. It became the preferred language by the masses. 

But identifying Urdu with muslims has political implications although there is no empirical evidence in favor of this relationship. Can language belong to a religion, or can a geographical claim be laid over a language?  Literary historian Rakhshanda Jalil explores the question through sixteen carefully selected Urdu short stories by non-muslim writers to help bust stereotypes and misconceptions. Any attempt at identifying a language with religion is fraught with a cruel denial of heritage.  

Stories by the well-known non-muslim writers, to name a few, like Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Kanhaiyalal Kapoor, Devendar Issar, Ramanand Sagar, and Gulzar speak of glorious diversity of issues in different tones and tenors. The idea of objectively selecting these stories affirm the ‘idea of India’, showcasing that Urdu as a language is alive and that it does not belong to muslims only. Including these short stories, there is a vast treasure of Urdu literature that can still reach the nooks and crannies of popular imagination. 

Whose Urdu Is It Anyway? is a loaded query on a hybrid language that borrowed words from many languages - mostly from Persian – and became the elite lingua franca of medieval India. The evolution of ‘rekhta’ acknowledges Urdu as a hybrid language and seeks to popularize it. Interestingly, such is the trend that there are more people who intend pursuing it orally than those who may pursue it as written language. Urdu following is growing irrespective of its religious identity it locates in the heart of Hindustan.   

Do handful of stories address the question on so-called proprietorship over the language? Rakhshanda Jalil has tried to be objective in selecting stories that remain representative of the time and the people. Most narratives haven’t missed the small person who lived on the margins of public consciousness in eking out a living, and when gender indiscrimination was more of a norm than exception. While most stories are located in the early years after independence when a new kind of nativism was being talked about, and when the fledgling nation was grappling with issues of identity and nationhood. It reminds us starkly of the present times when a similar surge of hyper-nationalism is being witnessed. 

The collection of short stories by non-muslim writers represent the region to which they belong, and not their religion. That’s why muslims in Kerala speak malyalam whereas those in Bengal feel at home in bengali. Not without reason, Urdu is and continues to be language in Punjab. As a region and not as a state. That is why Urdu as a language is not confined to a religion. ‘It belongs to whoever is willing to embrace it and in their capable hands, it is willing to be molded like pliable clay.’

Rakhshanda Jalil leaves the reader take his/her time for the essence of these stories to sink in. After all, Urdu has evolved as a language by the people. It does not belong to any state or religion.  

Whose Urdu is it anyway?

by Rakhshanda Jalil

Simon&Schuster, New Delhi. 

Extent: 180, Price. Rs. 499.

(Dr. Sudhirendar Sharma is a writer and researcher specializing in development issues. He is based in New Delhi, India.)

First published in Deccan Herald on September 14, 2025