Editing Deccani language (section)

==History==

=== Origin  ===
As a predecessor of modern [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]],{{Sfn|Rahman|2011|p=27}} Deccani has its origins in the [[Language contact|contact dialect]] spoken around Delhi then known as ''[[Dehlavi]]'' and now called [[Old Hindi]]''.'' In the early 14th century, this dialect was introduced in the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] region through the military exploits of [[Alauddin Khalji]].{{Sfn|Mustafa|2008|p=185}} In 1327 AD, [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] shifted his [[Delhi Sultanate|Sultanate]]'s capital from [[Delhi]] to [[Daulatabad, Maharashtra|Daulatabad]] (near present-day [[Aurangabad]], Maharashtra), causing a mass migration; governors, soldiers and common people moved south, bringing the dialect with them.{{sfn|Dua|2012|p=383}} At this time (and for the next few centuries) the cultural centres of the northern Indian subcontinent were under [[Persian language|Persian]] linguistic hegemony.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Matthews|first=David|title=Urdu|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/urdu|url-status=live|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429160516/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/urdu |archive-date=29 April 2011 }}</ref>

The [[Bahmani Sultanate]] was formed in 1347 AD with [[Daulatabad, Maharashtra|Daulatabad]] as its capital. This was later moved to [[Gulbarga]] and once again, in 1430, to [[Bidar]]. By this time, the dialect had acquired the name ''Dakhni,'' from the name of the region itself, and had become a ''lingua franca'' for the linguistically diverse people of the region, primarily where the Muslims had settled permanently.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yBJuAAAAMAAJ&q=dakhni+lingua+franca+muslims |title=A History of the Freedom Movement:Being the Story of Muslim Struggle for the Freedom of Hind-Pakistan, 1707–1947 |volume =3| issue =2 |publisher=Pakistan Historical Society |date=1957 }}</ref> The Bahmanids greatly promoted Persian, and did not show any notable patronage for Deccani.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schmidt|first=Ruth L.|title=Dakhini Urdu : History and Structure|year=1981|location=New Delhi|pages=3 & 6}}</ref> However, their 150-year rule saw the burgeoning of a local Deccani literary culture outside the court, as religious texts were made in the language. The [[Sufism|Sufis]] in the region (such as Shah Miranji) were an important vehicle of Deccani; they used it in their preachings since regional languages were more accessible (than Persian) to the general population. This era also saw production of the [[Masnavi (poetic form)|''masnavi'']] ''[[Kadam Rao Padam Rao]]'' by Fakhruddin Nizami in the region around Bidar. It is the earliest available manuscript of the Hindavi/Dehlavi/Deccani language, and contains loanwords from local languages such as Telugu and Marathi. Digby suggests that it was not produced in courtly settings.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Digby|first=Simon|title=Before Timur Came: Provincialization of the Delhi Sultanate through the Fourteenth Century|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25165052|journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|year=2004|volume=47|issue=3|pages=333–335|doi=10.1163/1568520041974657|jstor=25165052|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Growth ===
[[File:Phulban - a Persian love story (in Dakkhini Urdu).jpg|thumb|Illustrated page from ibn-e-Nishati's "Phulban" (Flower Garden), a Deccani Urdu rendition of an unknown Persian work. Written under the patronage of [[Abdullah Qutb Shah]], depicted here seated on a throne.]]
In the early 16th century, the Bahmani Sultanate splintered into the [[Deccan sultanates|Deccan Sultanates]]. These were also Persianate in culture, but were characterised by an affinity towards regional languages. They are largely responsible for the development of the Deccani literary tradition, which became concentrated at [[Golconda Sultanate|Golconda]] and [[Bijapur Sultanate|Bijapur]].{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|p=100}} Numerous Deccani poets were patronised in this time. According to Shaheen and Shahid, Golconda was the literary home of Asadullah Wajhi (author of ''Sab Ras''), ibn-e-Nishati (''Phulban''), and Ghwasi (''Tutinama'')''.'' Bijapur played host to Hashmi Bijapuri, San‘ati, and Mohammed Nusrati over the years.{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|p=124}}

The rulers themselves participated in these cultural developments. [[Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah]] of the [[Golconda Sultanate]] wrote poetry in Deccani, which was compiled into a ''[[Kulliyyat|kulliyyāt]].'' It is widely considered to be the earliest Urdu poetry of a secular nature.{{Sfn|Rahman|2011|p=27}} [[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]] of the [[Adil Shahi dynasty|Bijapur Sultanate]] produced ''Kitab-e-Navras'' (Book of the Nine [[Rasa (aesthetics)|Rasas]]), a work of musical poetry written entirely in Deccani. The ''[[mathnawi]]'' ''[[Pem Nem]]'' was also compiled during his reign.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Matthews|first=David J.|title=Eighty Years of Dakani Scholarship|url=https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/11813|journal=The Annual of Urdu Studies|year=1993|volume=9|pages=92–93}}</ref>

Although the poets of this era were well-versed in Persian, they were characterised by a preference for indigenous cultures, and a drive to stay independent of esoteric language. As a result, the language they cultivated emphasised the [[Sanskrit]]ic roots of Deccani without overshadowing it, and borrowed from neighbouring languages (especially Marathi; Matthews states that Dravidian influence was much less{{Sfn|Matthews|1976|p=170}}). In this regard, Shaheen and Shahid note that literary Deccani has historically been very close to spoken Deccani, unlike the northern tradition that has always exhibited [[diglossia]].{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|p=116}} Poet San'ati is a particular example of such conscious efforts to retain simplicity:{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|pp=101–103}}
{{Verse translation|rakhiyā kam sanskrit ke is me bōl,
adīk bōlne te rakhiyā hũ amōl;

jise fārsī kā na kuch gyān he
sō dakhnī zabān us kō āsān he|I have restricted the use of Sanskrit words,
And made it free of unnecessary talk.

Those who have no knowledge of Persian;
For them Dakhnī is a readily understood language.}}

As the language of court and culture, Persian nevertheless served as the model for poetic forms, and a good amount of Persian and Arabic vocabulary was present in the works of these writers. Hence Deccani attempted to strike a balance between Indian and Persian influences,{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|pp=103–104}}{{Sfn|Matthews|1976|p=283}} though it did always retain mutual intelligibility with the northern Dehlavi. This contributed to the cultivation of a distinct Deccani identity, separate from the rulers from the north; many poets proudly extolled the Deccan region and its culture.{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|pp=106–108}}

Hence, Deccani experienced cultivation into a literary language under the Sultanates, alongside its usage as a common vernacular. It also continued to be used by saints and Sufis for preaching. However, the Sultanates did not use Deccani for official purposes, preferring the prestige language Persian as well as regional languages like Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eaton|first=Richard|title=A Social History of the Deccan, 1300–1761|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780521254847|series=The New Cambridge History of India|pages=142–144}}</ref>

=== Decline ===
The Mughal conquest of the Deccan by [[Aurangzeb]] in the 17th century connected the southern regions of the subcontinent to the north, and introduced a hegemony of northern tastes. This began the decline of Deccani poetry, as literary patronage in the region decreased. The sociopolitical context of the period is reflected in Hashmi Bijapuri's poem, composed two years after the fall of Bijapur, in a time when many southern poets were pressured to change their language and style for patronage:{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|pp=116 & 143}}
{{Verse translation|tuje chākrī kya tu apnīch bōl,
terā shēr dakhnī hai dakhnīch bōl|Why bother about patrons, in your own words do state;
Your poetry is Dakhni, and only in it should you narrate}}

The literary centres of the Deccan had been replaced by the capital of the Mughals, so poets migrated to Delhi for better opportunities. A notable example is that of [[Wali Deccani]] (1667–1707), who adapted his Deccani sensibilities to the northern style and produced a [[Diwan (poetry)|''divan'']] in this variety. His work inspired the Persianate poets of the north to compose in the local dialect, which in their hands became an intermediate predecessor of Hindustani known as [[Rekhta]]. This accelerated the downfall of Deccani literature, as Rekhta came to dominate the competing dialects of Mughal Hindustan.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Faruqi|first=Shamsur Rahman|title=Urdu Literary Culture, Part 1|work=Literary Cultures in History. Reconstructions from South Asia.|publisher=University of California Press|year=2003|isbn=0520228219|editor-last=Pollock|editor-first=Sheldon|pages=837 & 839}}</ref> The advent of the [[Asaf Jahis]] slowed this down, but despite their patronage of regional culture, Deccani Urdu's literary tradition died. However, the spoken variety has lived on in the Deccani Muslims, retaining some of its historical features and continuing to be influenced by the neighbouring Dravidian languages.{{Sfn|Shaheen|Shahid|2018|pp=118–119}}{{Sfn|Mustafa|2008|p=185}}