Page 50 - Journeys Through Society-7

Marathi. Similarly, in Bengal too, the regional Originally, Malayalam was no more than a local dialect
language grew as a result of the Bhakti saint Chaitanya of pure Tamil. The earliest record of the language is an
Mahaprabhu preaching in Bengali. inscription dating back to approximately 830 CE. The
Chera rulers introduced the Malayalam language and
Development of Language and Literature under the
script in their inscriptions so that it could be read by
Delhi Sultanate
the common people.
The coming of the Turks inaugurated a new chapter in
The Cheras patronised Sanskrit literature. Temple
the history of languages. The period saw the rise of the
theatre under the Cheras borrowed stories from
Turkish and Arabic languages. Sanskrit and Persian
Sanskrit epics. This caused an extensive influx of
continued to be the languages of the elites and court.
Sanskrit words into the Malayalam script.
During the medieval period, two forms of Hindi
Telugu developed into its present form between the
became very popular in north India, Brajbhasha and
tenth and fourteenth centuries. It was greatly
Awadhi.
patronised by the Vijayanagar rulers along with
The testament of a composite culture existing around Sanskrit.
this time was the birth of Urdu, a mixture of Persian
and Hindi, which became the common language of the Development of Language and Literature under the
people of the Delhi Sultanate. Mughals
By the times of the Mughals, Urdu became the The Mughals were great patrons of literature.
preferred language for literacy compositions. A Chagatai, in which Babur’s Baburnama was written,
vocabulary replete with Islamic words, simple was an emerging language. Babar himself wrote his
grammar and Arabic script were essential features of autobiography. The work gives a lively and compelling
Urdu. Persian and Arabic words are found in great account of the wide range of interests, tastes, and
numbers in the language. sensibilities of the first Mughal emperor.
Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, popularly known as
Wow Fact Rahim, was an accomplished poet in Hindi. He was one
of the nine gems in Akbar’s court. His dohas or
Famous for his heart-touching
poetry, Mirza Ghalib is also the couplets are popular even today.
father of Urdu prose. He has Akbar loved to remain in the company of great
written beautiful, melodious scholars. Abul Fazl wrote the two masterpieces, Ain-i-
ghazals. Some his best works
have been translated into several Indian as Akbari and Akbarnama, which give us an insight into
well as foreign languages. Akbar’s life, and the Mughal Empire and its working.
Jahangir was a great scholar of Persian, Turkish and
Hindi. He wrote Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri in Persian.
Wow Fact Padmavat is the first popular book in Awadhi, written

Sumerian can be considered the first in 1540 CE by Malik Muhammad Jayasi. It is the story
language in the world, according to Mondly. of Queen Padmini of Chittor.
The oldest proof of written Sumerian was
found on the Kish tablet in today’s Iraq,
dating back to approximately 3500 BC. Wow Fact
Dara Shikoh, the son of Shah Jahan was a
great scholar who translated the Bhagwat
Development of Language and Literature in South
Gita and the Upanishads into Persian.
India

Tamil is one of the oldest Indian languages. Kamban
wrote the Tamil version of the Ramayana around the Tradition of Paintings
thirteenth century. India has a very old tradition of paintings. The earliest

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