Growth of Urdu Literature in the Deccan

Between the emergence of Urdu as a distinctively recognizable idiom in the north and its elevation to the position of a literary language, there is a gap of at least two centuries. Throughout this period, Persian remained the literary language of the country. It was only with the decline of the Mughals that Urdu, so long held in check, began to make headway as a literary language. The first impulse towards this however, came from the south, where it had a flourishing literary career for about a century and half (1590-1730 A.D). Though Bahmani kingdom’s contribution to the growth of Urdu literature in the Deccan is considered as negligible, it definitely gave Urdu a distinct identity. However, it was during the independent rule of the Adilshahis of Bijapur (1490-1686 A.D), Qutbshahis of Golconda (1512-1687 A.D) and the Nizamshahis of Ahmadnagar (1496-1633 A.D) that the real flowering of Dakhni Urdu as a literary medium took place. Sultans of these kingdoms were great patrons of art and culture, few of them themselves being great scholars. Their generosity attracted literary talent from far and wide. Although the court language of these kingdoms was Dakhini it was modeled on Persian literature. Nevertheless,Dakhini retained its indigenous colour in close contact with its cultural surroundings and vernaculars like Gujarati and Marathi. The desire to spread the doctrines of Islam also necessitated the use of vernacular and many holy men, who have always played an important part in the cultural life of Deccan, began to write tracts and even larger works in Dakhini. 

Another important phase in the growth of Urdu literature in the Deccan began during the vice royalty of Aurangzeb, when large and renewed emigration in to south, brought the cities of south still more within the orbit of cultural and linguistic influence of the north. Under the Mughal influence, Urdu (Aurangabadi) acquired a firm footing in those parts of southern India, which had been longest and most intimately in touch with the north. In effect therefore, there were two languages current in the Deccan, the language of the outlying provinces where Mughal influences had not fully penetrated i.e. Dakhini and Aurangabadi (called Hindi in the 17^th century), spoken in and around Aurangabad, which had been in long and direct contact with the languages of the north. The amalgamation of the linguistic and literary traditions of the north and south resulted in to coming in to being of a new standard of language and literature which was called Rekhta. One of the greatest Rekhta poet of Deccan was Shamsuddin Vali Ullah (1667-1741 A.D), popularly known as Vali Dakkani.