LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

ASSIGNMENT ON HISTORY

PAPER:HISCSS3C110
MEDIEVAL INDIAN HISTORY-PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES

TOPIC: LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL

LANGUAGES

SULAIMAN TK
REG NO;CUANHIS23

3RD SEMESTER MA

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

INTRODUCTION

Learning,knowledge,culture are closely associated with the power of language

and particularly in the context of India where several languages are competing for
favour at various levels of society –including the highest echelons of power. This
brings us to the question of how Persian became the language of power during
the so called ‘medieval’ period –the language of not only the king and the court or
the elite but also that of the mutasaddis(clerks) and those holding minor positions
–Hindavi,Sanskrit,and Prakrit. India came into contact with the emerging New
Persian Culture some time around the ninth century when Persian was still
evolving as a language of Literary expression in the Islamic East.1

A formal contact was established with it with the foundation of Ghaznavid power
in Punjab in the 11th century. Punjab thus became the first centre in the Indian
subcontinent to witness the beginning and flowering of high Persian Literary
tradition . subsequently , with the Turkish conquest of India ,Persia flourished
further east ,in Delhi and beyond . the sulthans of Delhi,from the thirteenth to
the fifteenth century ,generously patronized the Persian scribes,writes and poets.
Amir khusrau and Hasan sijzi of Delhi,both closely associated with the Chishti sufi
Hospice of shaikh Nizam al Din Auliya,contributed immensely to the further
enrichment of Persian. Thus by the fourteenth century ,while Persian enjoyed
considerable uniformity,Hindavi was known to only a few groups. It is alleged that
even as late as the eighteenth century ,Hindavi had not evolved fullyb even in
north India. There was a possibility of Sanskrit or Hindi –yi kitabi(Hindi of the
book)instead of the Persian being the language of the empire ,but Mirza Khan
(author of Tuhfat al-Hind),writing during the reign of Aurangzeb tell as that
Sanskrit was not considered the language suitable for the ordinary ,it was seen as
Deva bani(language of gods) and Akash bani (language of upper firmament ).
Identified as too sacred and too divine ,no Mlechha(low class)could have been
allowed to pollute it by choosing it as the symbol of power. Prakrit ,on the other
hand ,was a Patal bani the language of the underground and of snakes which

1
Meena Bhargava(ed),Exploring Medievel India Sixteenth century to Eighteenth Centuries
Culture,Gender,Regional patterns,Orient Black Sawn ,Hyderabad,2010,pp.1-4
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

means too low to appropriated as imperial language.Braj or Bhakha,the language

of commoners was a regional dialect and the Mughals considered it suitable for
only romantic poetry and music. Persian tot the contrary ,was seen as the
upholder of liberalism in ‘medieval’Islamic world and therefore a language that
could accommodate diverse religious and cultural traditions.

Muzaffar Alam in the article ‘The Pursuit of Persian :Language in Mughal Politics’
explains the expansion and extraordinary rise of Persian during the Mughal
period.Babur and Humayun had patronized Turkish and Bairam Khan had
established his credentials as a poet of Turkish. Akbar ,however became the first
among the Indo-Islamic kings of north India to formally declare Persian as the
language of the government at all levels. Fostering social,cultural and intellectual
links with Iran ,Akbar promoted his empire as Dar ul-aman (adobe of peace )and a
place of shelter for the wise and the learned. This encouraged a large number of
Persian writers and poets to come to India ;close contacts with Iran facilitated the
emergence of Persian as the first language of the king and the court in Mughal
India. Several Hindu communities in the Mughal administration who had earlier
used Hindi as the official language learnt Persian and joined the Ranks of Muharris
and Munshis (clerks,scribes and secretaries)along with the Iranians. Persian was
thus recognized as not only the language of politics but also the most effective
language to express cultural accomplishments. However ,as Persian acquired the
status of the sole privileged language of the state,it created a wedge between the
Mughals and the people. It was seen as the most functional and pragmatic mode
of communication and even after the collapse of the Mughal Empire it continued
to retain its glory.

Persia reached high traditions during the Mughal period in literature

,particulary the development of Insha literature are an evidence of the extent of
Persian and Arabic influence that the Mughal empire. Insha is an Arabic word
that means ‘creation’ or ‘construction’. Insha collections in Arabic and Persian
compiled during the Medieval period consisted of documents and letters are
opposed to treatises and books.
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

Sanskrit literature

According to Satish Chandra ,Sanskrit continued to be a vehicle for higher thought

and a medium for literature during the period under review. In fact ,the
production of works in Sanskrit in different branches was immense and perhaps
greater than in the preceding period. Some of them are Sankara,works in the field
of philosophy by Ramanuja,Madhava,Vallabha,ect.,continued to be written
Sanskrit. The speed with which their ideas were widely disseminated and
discussed in different parts of the country showed the important role which
Sanskrit continued to play during the period. There was a network of specialized
schools and academies in different parts of the country ,including areas under
Muslim domination. These schools and academies were not interfered with with
and continued to flourish .some of the papers were reproduced such as the oldest
available text of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata written on paper belonged
to the period between the 11th and 12th century.

Works in the field of Kavya (aoetical narrative),drama,fiction ,medicine

,astronomy,music,ect.,continued to be written in Sanskrit. A large number of
commentaries and digestson the Hindu law(dharmashastras) were prepared to
between the twelfth and the sixteenth century. The great Mitakshara of
vijnaneshwar,which form one of the two principal Hindu schools of law ,cannot be
placed earlier than the twelfth century . Another famous commentator was
Chandeshwar of bihar,who lived in the fourteenth century.most of the other
works were produced in the south,followed by Bengal, mithila,and western India
under the patronages of Hindu rulers.2 The jains also contributed to the growth of
Sanskrit ,Hemachandra Suri one of them. These works were ignored the presence
of of the Muslims in the country. Little attempt was made to translate Islamic
works or Persian literature into Sanskrit. Possibly ,the only exception was the
translation of the love story of Yusuf and Sulaikha written by the famous Persian
Poet ,Jami.

2
Satish Chandra,History of Medieval India,Orient Longman Prvtlmtd,Hyderabad,2007,pp.196-
199,
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

PERSIAN LITERATURE

According to Satish Chandra greatest amount of literature and scientific works

produced by the Muslims was in Arabic which was the language of the Prophet
and was used the language of literature and science from Spain to Baghdad,the
turks who came to India were deeply influenced by the Persian language which
had become the literary and administrative language of Central Asiaa form the
tenth century onwards. Firdausi and Sadi are greatest poets in Persian literature
who lived and composed their works between the tenth and fourteenth
centuries. The Lahore emerged as the first centre for the cultivation of Persain
language. Although the works only of few of these early writers of Persian in
India have survived ,we find in the writings of some of them ,such as Masud sad
Salman ,a sense of attachment and love for Lahore. The most notable Persian
writer of the period was Amir khusrau,born in 1252 at Patiali ,UP,took pride in
being Indian. He wrote a large number of poetical works,including historical
romances. He created a new Persian style called Sabaq-i-hindi or the style of
India.Khusrau has praised Indian languages ,including Hindi(which he calls
Hindavi). Some of his scattered Hindi verses are found , though the hindi work
,Khaliq Bari often attributed to Khusrau ,was in all probability the work of later
poet of the same name.A strong school of history writing in Persian developed in
India during the period ,such historians are Ziauddin Barani,Afif and Isami.

Thus ,Sanskrit and Persia ,in the main ,functioned as link languages in the
country in politics ,religion and philosophy as well as being means of literary
productions. Zia nakashabi(d.1350) was the first to translate into Persian Sanskrit
stories which were related by a parrot to a women whose husband had gone a
journey. This book Tuti nama (book of the parrot),written in the time of
Muhammed Tughlaq,proved very popular and was translated from Persia in to
Turkish and in to many European languages. He also translated the old Indain
treatise on sexology ,the Koka shastra ,into persain. In the time of firuz shah
,Sanskrit books on Medicine and music were translated into persain . sultan zain-
ul –abidin of Kashmir had the famous historical work Rajajataragini and the
Mahabharada translated into Persian.
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

REGIONAL LANGUAGES

During this period literary works of high quality were produced in many of the
regional languages,such as Hindi,Bengali and Marathi trace their origin back to
the eight century. Tamil were much olderAmir khusrau noted that the existence
of regional languages argued that “these languages have from ancient times
applied in every way to the common purpose of life.” The rise to maturity of many
of these languages and their use as means for literary works as may be considered
a striking feature of the medieval period.the reason for that the loss of prestige by
the Brahmans,Sanskrit also lost its prestige. The use of common language by the
Bhakti saints was another fact for the rise of regional languages. Many regional
kingdoms of the pre Turkish period ,regional languages,such as Tamil ,kannada
,Marathi ect.,were used for administrative purpose ,in addition to Sanskrit. This
must have continued under the Turkish rule ,for we hear of hindi-knowing
revenue accountants appointed in the Delhi Sultanat.later when the delhi sultanat
broke up ,local languages in addition to Persain continued to be used for
administrative purpose in many of the regional kingdoms. Thus literature in
Telugu developed in south india under the patronage of the vijayanagar
rulers.Marathi was one of the administrative language in the Bahmini kingdom.
Nusrath shah of Bengal had the Mahabharada and Ramayana translated into
Bengali. Maladhar basu also translated the Bhagavata into Bengali under his
patronage.in Jaunpur,the sufi saints,such as Malik Muhammed Jaisi,wrote in Hindi
and put forward sufi concept in a form whgich could be easily understood by the
common man. They populaised many persain forms ,such as the Masnavi.
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

LITERTATURE IN MUGHAL PERIOD.

The Persian legacy were continued during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries ,the time of Akbar ,knowledge of persain had become so widespread in
north india that he dispensed with the tradition of keeping revenue records in the
local languages(hindawi) in addition to persain. Persian prose and poetry reached
the climax under the Akbars reign. Abul fazal who was a great scholar and a
stylist,as well as leading historian of the age ,seta style of prose writing which
was emulated many generations. The leading poet of this age was his
brother,faizi,who was helped the Akbars translation department. The translation
of the Mahabharada carried out under his supervision. Utubi and Naziri were the
two other leading Persian poets. Though born in Persia, they were among the
many poets and scholars who migrated from iran to india during the period and
made the mughal court one of the cultural centres of the Islamic world. Hindus
also contributed to the growth of Persian literature. Apart from literary and
historical works a number of famous dictionaries of the Persian language were
also compiled during the period.

A number of Sanskrit works were produced during this period ,most of the works
were produced in south and east india under the patronage of local rulers, though
a few were produced by Brahmans employed in the translation department of the
mughal emperors.

Regional languages acquired stability and maturity and some of the finest lyrical
poetry was produced during this period. The dalliance of Krishna with Radha and
the milkmaids,pranks of the child Krishna and stories from the Bhagawat Puran
figure largely in lyrical poetry in Bengali,oriya,hindi ,rajasthani,andGujarathi
during this period. Many devotional hymns to Rama were composed ,and
Ramayana and Mahabharata were translated into regional languages .in hindi the
Padmavat,the story written by the sufi saint,malik muhammed jaisi,used the
attack of Alauddin khalji on chittor as an allegory to expound sufi ideas on the
relations of soul with god,along with hindu ideas about Maya.
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

CONCLUSSION

During the medieval period which witnessed the marginal changes in the field of
literature ,knowledge and culture. The emergence of new languages and decline
of some languages,and also flourish new languages are listed in this period.
Dealing with the topic literature in Persian ,Sanskrit and regional languages are
light to the history of medieval India especially in the field of language and arts.
Due to the expansion of Islamic rule in north India Persia became the
administrative language ,turkes and afghans invation resulted it. As well as
Sanskrit also the language of upper class or ruling class among the other regions
of india ruing the hindu rulers. The position of regional languages also equal to
the Persian and Sanskrit ,such as Maratha,tamil,ect are prominent in their on
territory .
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

According to Harbans Mukhia studied mughal court culture quoted the theory of
Marx ‘in any epoch the ruling culture is the culture of the ruling class’.by the time
of the mughals arrival ,India had been familiar with the use of the Persian
language , familiarity began with the great patron of Persian letters Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni ,at the level of state ,and with the great Sufi Saint Shaikh
MUIN al-Din Chishti,at the popular level. Persian was no ones mother tongue. For
the Mughals ,Turkish ,spoken in and around Uzbekistan,was the mother language.
For most nobles ,except those if Iranian descents ,Persia was at best their second
language. At the plane of intellectual and literary creativity in Persian Indians had
rather meagre accomplishments to show. Historians ,barring Abul Fazal ,wrote
with a sort of mental translation of their formulations from the native
Hindawi(medieval hindi of north india) into Persian ,with some queer phrases that
made sense only to one at home with the Hindustani idiom. 3

At the level of literary creativity ,there is even less to show. Amir khusru was one
of the important figure.in Qiran al-Sadain,composed under commission to
commemorate the meeting of sulthan Kaiqubad,grand son of sultan Balban.in
Akbars court ,the poetry that earned appreciation and reward. In the Ain –I
akbari,following an age old Iranian and Indian historiographical tradition,Abul
Fazal appends appends a list of the most eminent poets of Akbar’s reign. Of the
59 poets listed ,and an additional enumeration of another 15,from amongst
thousands of poets are continually at court, there are just two who could be
clearly identified as Indians;at the top of the list is Abul Fazal’s elder brother Abul
Faiz Faizi Fayyanzi,of course,and at number 58 is Sheri ,of the Panjabi shaikhs
stock. All the names included the list was Muslims ,even not a single Hindu had
come anywhere near taking to the Persian language for the expression of his
literary genius. In Badauni’s similar list of poets ,comprising a total of 168,there
are two or three Indian Muslims and one,possibly a Hindu ,known charmingly as
Muhammed Manohar.

. Harbans Mukhia,the Mughals of India,Blackwell publishing,USA,2005,pp.156-

3

158
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

INSHA LITERARY FORM

The Arabic word insha means creation or construction. It was used with this
meaning in classical Arabic literature. With the passage of time it came to denote
prose composition,letter,documents and state papers. ,later it was used as
synonym for Munsha’at,the documents composed in accordance with certain
norms prescribed for such compositions that would distinguished their
form,style,and diction fromordinary prose. Gradually the term Insha came to be
used to represent a distinct genre in Arabic and later in Persian literature as well.
It became defined as a branch of learning which discerned the merits and defects
of the prose composition of letters and documents.4in a single mean insha is
concerned with the composition of letters and documents as distinct from regular
treatises and books.

The term ‘ilm-i-insha’is also sometimes loosely used for refined prose writing in
general. Jurji Zaidan,the noted Arab literary historian ,observes that insha was
mainly concerned with the expression of inner feelings,as against the exposition
of learned sciences. In classical Persian literature most representative forms of
insha are identified as Rasa’il(litteraly,letters). According to available definitions
rasail divided in to two a)tauqi at and b)muhawarat. Tauqi at consists of ahkam
and missal(orders and directives)of rulers and officials. Muhawarat consists of
maktubat and mufawazat(letters and correspondence).

4
Ishtiyaq Ahmad Zilli,Development of Insha literature to the End of Akbar’s
Reign,A paper on ,Exploring Medieval India sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
2,culture,gender,regional patterns,edited by Meena Bhargava,orient
Blackswan,Hyderabad,2010,pp.74-77
LITERATURE IN PERSIAN,SANSKRIT,AND REGIONAL LANGUAGES

BIBILIOGRAPHY

1) Harbans Mukhia,the Mughals of India,Blackwell publishing,USA,2005

2) Ishtiyaq Ahmad Zilli,Development of Insha literature to the End of Akbar’s
Reign,A paper on ,Exploring Medieval India sixteenth to eighteenth
centuries 2,culture,gender,regional patterns,edited by Meena
Bhargava,orient Blackswan,Hyderabad,2010
3) Meena Bhargava(ed),Exploring Medievel India Sixteenth century to
Eighteenth Centuries Culture,Gender,Regional patterns,Orient Black Sawn
,Hyderabad,2010
4) Satish Chandra,History of Medieval India,Orient Longman
Prvtlmtd,Hyderabad,2007