1. INTRODUCTION
Beginning with the invasion of Mohammed Ghori in the late 12th
century AD, the foreign invaders settled down in India to rule. The
Slave, Tughluq, Lodi, and Mughal dynasties used Persian in their
administration, but they used the local language spoken in and
around Delhi for communicating with the people for their day-to-
day needs. This local language was a form of Apbhramsha, which
eventually became Khariboli; they called this language Hindi - a
language belonging to Hind. Thus, the Hindi language derived its
name from the Persian towards the end of the 12th century or
beginning of the 13th century. During the Mughal period, the word
“Urdu” was derived from the Turkish word “Yurt” or “ordu” that
meant “military encampment.” This variety was distinguished on the
basis of Perso-Arabic influence at the lexical level and was written
in the Perso-Arabic script. Hindi-Urdu became the medium of
communication between the Muslim rulers and the local people. The
southern variety of the speech, best known as Dakhini, also became
the medium of literature and socio-religious discourse. This variety
is influenced by Dravidian languages as a result of language contact.
Due to a common structural basis, Hindi and Urdu continued to be
treated as synonymous for centuries at least up to the period of
Mirza Ghalib. Mirza Ghalib called his language “Hindi” on several
occasions, though he used the Perso-Arabic script for writing it. He
named one of his works “ode-e-Hindi” (perfume of Hindi).
Primarily in the domain of different genres of literature, Hindi and
Urdu started drifting away from each other not only in the use of
two different scripts, but also in literary styles and vocabulary. Hindi
started drawing more and more from Sanskrit, and Urdu from
Persian and Arabic. The processes continue today.
During British rule, when English was adopted as the official
language, local languages were assigned roles for certain functions
at lower levels of administration. A competition started between the
proponents or supporters of Hindi and those of Urdu for official
recognition of their languages. In the first instance, Urdu was
recognized by the British in the Northwest and Oudh, Bihar, and the
Central Provinces in 1830 AD as the language of the courts. This
was followed by the recognition accorded to Hindi in certain areas.
Hindi and Urdu were involved in controversy and mutual
competition for their recognition in various domains of education
and administration. The mutual conflicts intensified at the beginning