HYDERABAD: Amitabh Bachchan used it like a pro, Mehmood's original take
left you in splits and Govinda simply gyrated to it. What has been
Bollywood's language of fun and humour was once a language as pure as
its literature.
Dakhani, as it's called is an old language, as old as probably Hyderabad itself. And yes, it has its variations in cities like Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai and other south Indian cities.
So a 'kahan ja rahe hain?' becomes 'kaan ku ja re' in Dakhani. Also it's probably the sing song tone of the language that makes it pleasant to the ears.
What's interesting is that most people speak it without knowing that it is a language which has a rather rich history. So an auto driver, Shankar Anna, born and brought up in Hyderabad speaks it without knowing what it's really called, "Isko kya bolte? Yeh to Hindiich hai?" (What do you call it, it is Hindi). But stress a little further and he says, "It's Nizami Hindi."
As he hands over the change, he obliges you with a little more information, "Isme sab mixing hai. Hindi hai, Urdu hai, Telugu hai. Ye mast hai. Hau idhar sab longan yeich bolte. " (It has Hindi, Urdu, Telugu. It's fun. Yes all people here speak it.") But no he doesn't know it's Dakhani.
Asif Khan, who's been in the city for 30 years and runs a canteen in a hospital, speaks the same language without knowing what it's called. "No it has nothing to do with Nizams. Those people used a lot more respect. This is a language we all use to converse. It's a mixture of Hindi and Urdu."
To an extent, both Shankar Anna and Asif are right, yes it's a language that is a pleasant mixture of languages, a language that was born before Urdu and Hindi got their respective names.
Dakhani, say experts was born as early as 12th century when Sufi saints from north India brought with them Khadi Boli, a language that was common to most people in those parts.
Says Dr Naseemuddin Farees, a lecturer of Urdu in Hyderabad Central University, "When it went to Gujrat, it became Gurjari, when it came to south of India, it became Dakhani."
When Mohammad Bin Tughlak shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, the same Khadi Boli, Dakhani got a lot of Marathi words with it, a reason why the language has a lot of Marathi words.
In fact if you wonder why some words sounds so much like Mumbaiya Hindi, there is a simple explanation. "The ch sound in Dakhani has come from Marathi. So words like 'idharich' (here itself) has come from Marathi," says Dr Farees.
Dr Mohammed Ali Asar who has done his Ph.D on Dakhani ghazals, explains this theory further, "Because Marathi was an Indo Aryan language, a lot of words were imbibed from it."
When the Bahamani rulers came in power in the 13th century, they gave a lot of importance to Dakhani. "It was a way of establishing contact with the people, of breaking that boundary by speaking to them in a language that was their own," explains Dr Mustafa Kamal, editor of Shagufa, an Urdu magazine.
As the language flourished, its literature did as well. Quli Qutub Shah who established Hyderabad is known to have penned a number of poems in Dakhani. "Right from a crow to flowers, he wrote poems on almost every subject" says Dr Farees. Ghazals, poems, folk songs, all of them flourished. "It was a beautiful language with words like surya from Sanskrit becoming surej, chandra becoming chund, chanda. It wasn't what it is today, a dead being." says Dr Asar.
With Aurangzeb's attack in 17th century, however, much like other things, Dakhani was attacked as well. The books, the poems, were all destroyed. It was soon called, a "gawaru" (of the uneducated) language, adds Dr Asar. But the folk songs survived as did lullabies. Traditional marriages still have songs in Dakhani, says Dr Kamal.
The dialect survived because it had become a part of people's life, without them really knowing when. So even back them, much like our auto driver and canteen owner friend now, people spoke in a language without really knowing what it was called.
"The first time the word Dakhani was used, was in 1613 when a poet, Pyar Mohammad Isq Qureshi, translated a Persian version of Kama Sutra into a poem by the name of Bhog Bal,'' says Dr Farees.
It was just a language that people living here communicated in, giving a name to it wasn't the most important thing, communicating was. Like Asif says it simply as he spreads a bowlful of dosa mixture on to a hot tawa, "Why is the name important? I don't know what it's called, I don't know about Nizams and poems but yes I know it's something we all speak at home. It's as important to me as making a dosa for my customers. And it will always be."
----------------
A comment ,26,.11. 2006,
The Times of India ,Hyderabad
Dakhani, as it's called is an old language, as old as probably Hyderabad itself. And yes, it has its variations in cities like Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai and other south Indian cities.
So a 'kahan ja rahe hain?' becomes 'kaan ku ja re' in Dakhani. Also it's probably the sing song tone of the language that makes it pleasant to the ears.
What's interesting is that most people speak it without knowing that it is a language which has a rather rich history. So an auto driver, Shankar Anna, born and brought up in Hyderabad speaks it without knowing what it's really called, "Isko kya bolte? Yeh to Hindiich hai?" (What do you call it, it is Hindi). But stress a little further and he says, "It's Nizami Hindi."
As he hands over the change, he obliges you with a little more information, "Isme sab mixing hai. Hindi hai, Urdu hai, Telugu hai. Ye mast hai. Hau idhar sab longan yeich bolte. " (It has Hindi, Urdu, Telugu. It's fun. Yes all people here speak it.") But no he doesn't know it's Dakhani.
Asif Khan, who's been in the city for 30 years and runs a canteen in a hospital, speaks the same language without knowing what it's called. "No it has nothing to do with Nizams. Those people used a lot more respect. This is a language we all use to converse. It's a mixture of Hindi and Urdu."
To an extent, both Shankar Anna and Asif are right, yes it's a language that is a pleasant mixture of languages, a language that was born before Urdu and Hindi got their respective names.
Dakhani, say experts was born as early as 12th century when Sufi saints from north India brought with them Khadi Boli, a language that was common to most people in those parts.
Says Dr Naseemuddin Farees, a lecturer of Urdu in Hyderabad Central University, "When it went to Gujrat, it became Gurjari, when it came to south of India, it became Dakhani."
When Mohammad Bin Tughlak shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, the same Khadi Boli, Dakhani got a lot of Marathi words with it, a reason why the language has a lot of Marathi words.
In fact if you wonder why some words sounds so much like Mumbaiya Hindi, there is a simple explanation. "The ch sound in Dakhani has come from Marathi. So words like 'idharich' (here itself) has come from Marathi," says Dr Farees.
Dr Mohammed Ali Asar who has done his Ph.D on Dakhani ghazals, explains this theory further, "Because Marathi was an Indo Aryan language, a lot of words were imbibed from it."
When the Bahamani rulers came in power in the 13th century, they gave a lot of importance to Dakhani. "It was a way of establishing contact with the people, of breaking that boundary by speaking to them in a language that was their own," explains Dr Mustafa Kamal, editor of Shagufa, an Urdu magazine.
As the language flourished, its literature did as well. Quli Qutub Shah who established Hyderabad is known to have penned a number of poems in Dakhani. "Right from a crow to flowers, he wrote poems on almost every subject" says Dr Farees. Ghazals, poems, folk songs, all of them flourished. "It was a beautiful language with words like surya from Sanskrit becoming surej, chandra becoming chund, chanda. It wasn't what it is today, a dead being." says Dr Asar.
With Aurangzeb's attack in 17th century, however, much like other things, Dakhani was attacked as well. The books, the poems, were all destroyed. It was soon called, a "gawaru" (of the uneducated) language, adds Dr Asar. But the folk songs survived as did lullabies. Traditional marriages still have songs in Dakhani, says Dr Kamal.
The dialect survived because it had become a part of people's life, without them really knowing when. So even back them, much like our auto driver and canteen owner friend now, people spoke in a language without really knowing what it was called.
"The first time the word Dakhani was used, was in 1613 when a poet, Pyar Mohammad Isq Qureshi, translated a Persian version of Kama Sutra into a poem by the name of Bhog Bal,'' says Dr Farees.
It was just a language that people living here communicated in, giving a name to it wasn't the most important thing, communicating was. Like Asif says it simply as he spreads a bowlful of dosa mixture on to a hot tawa, "Why is the name important? I don't know what it's called, I don't know about Nizams and poems but yes I know it's something we all speak at home. It's as important to me as making a dosa for my customers. And it will always be."
----------------
A comment ,26,.11. 2006,
The Times of India ,Hyderabad
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