Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide (HC) [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Abdul Jamil Khan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0875864384 | ISBN-13: 978-0875864389 | Edition: illustrated edition

In a blow against the British Empire, Khan suggests that London deliberately set India's Hindu and Muslim populations against each other in the 1800s by artificially splitting their one language in two, then burying the evidence in obscure scholarly works outside the public view. "Divide and rule" - the British were experts at that. All language is political - and so is the boundary between one language and another. The author analyzes the origins of Urdu, one of the earliest known languages, and propounds the iconoclastic views that, (1) Hindi came from pre-Aryan Dravidian and Austric-Munda (rooted in the Middle East/Mesopotamia), not from Aryan Sanskrit, and (2) Hindi's script came from the Aramaic system, similar to Greek. Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide integrates the "out of Africa" linguistic evolution theory with the fossil linguistics of the Middle East, and discards the theory that Sanskrit descended from a hypothetical proto-Indo European language and by degeneration created dialects, Urdu/Hindi and others. It shows that several tribes from the Middle East created the hybrid by cumulative evolution. The oldest groups, Austric and Dravidian, starting in 8000 BC, provided the grammar/syntax plus about 60% of vocabulary, Sanskrit added 10% after 1500 BC and Arabic/Persian 20-30% after AD 800. The book reveals Mesopotamia as the linguistic melting pot of Sumerian, Babylonian, Elamite, Hittite-Hurrian-Mitanni, with a common script and vocabularies shared mutually and passed on to Indo-European, Sanskrit, Dravidian, Arabic and then to Hindi/Urdu; in fact the author locates oldest evidence of Sanskrit in Syria. The book exposes the myths of Sanskrit or Hebrew as "revealed" languages and examines the fiction of linguistic races, i.e. Aryan, Semitic. The book supports the "one world concept" and reveals the potential of Urdu/Hindi to unite all genetic elements, races and regions of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. Khan bolsters his hypothesis with copious technical linguistic examples and quotes masters of Urdu/Hindi prose and poetry of the last three centuries, showcasing the passionate expressiveness of the language. * Abdul Jamil Khan, MD, served as chairman of a teaching hospital and as a professor of pediatrics he taught infant speech development in New York. From there, his research has extended into linguistics and history. His impetus stems from his early education, as he learned six languages by 10th grade and had to face political claims regarding "Divine Arabic" and "Divine Sanskrit," and experienced the tragedies of the British division of India and its language.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The lingua franca of the Indo-Pakistani people is one language, claims Khan, called Hindi when written in Nagari and Urdu when written in Arabic. He says it is not descended from Sanskrit, as conventionally believed, but is 10-12,000 years old and was influenced early by the Austric-Munda and Dravidian language families. Leaving aside any religious argument, he buttresses his theory with evidence from evolution, Sumerian, and the European concept of mythical races linked to linguistic families. His experience teaching pediatrics and infant speech development led him to the study of linguistics and history. --booknews

To understand what impact language can have on culture, nationalism and politics, and how it can even influence the writing of history in hindsight, one should read about the strange phenomenon called the Hindi-Urdu controversy. This linguistic conflict inspired Hindu nationalism in 19th-century India and became one of the contributing factors in the creation of Pakistan.

The Urdu language has had a varied nomenclature through history. In the beginning Urdu was called Hindi or Hindavi. It was popularly known as Hindustani. Some Europeans called it Indostans and some of them even Moors, that is the language of the Muslims. Its other name was Zaban-i-Urdu-i-moalla-i-Shah Jahanabad, which became Urdu-i-moalla and ultimately Urdu.

But the origin and genesis of Urdu has always been a bone of contention among linguists. It is generally held that both Hindi and Urdu belong to the Indo-European or Indo-Aryan family of languages and both have their origin in Vedic Sanskrit.... What mars a scholarly debate with acrimony, though, is the question of religion, identity and nationalism that somehow has been associated with Urdu/Hindi: Muslims favouring an Arabic script to write the language with a vocabulary which is predominantly Arabic/Persian and Hindus, on the other hand, writing the same language (grammatically, that is) in Nagari script with a marked inclination towards a vocabulary that is Sanskrit or Dravidian in origin. The issue boiled down to a situation that said Urdu for Muslims and Hindi for Hindus .

The author, unlike several others who have dealt with the topic, has remained unaffected by his own cultural and religious background and is unbiased. In fact he feels that languages are not sacred. Neither are they related to religions or races. They are just a means of communication and are non-communal and secular and, therefore, should be seen as such. Instead of giving credibility to the notion of either side on the issue of Hindi-Urdu discord, he has unemotionally gone through the history of the language, meticulously sifting through the historical evidence of how the chasm between Hindus and Muslims was widened by carefully thought out policies of the British colonialists. The famous divide and rule policy not only divided the Indians on religious and political grounds but on linguistic grounds as well. Dr Abdul Jamil Khan has very rightly mentioned that the establishment of Fort William College at Culcutta (now Kolkata) by the British, in the year 1800, sowed the seeds of the conflict.

Dr Abdul Jamil Khan, being an expert in medical sciences, has given a lucid explanation of why the theory of man s origin out of Africa and its subsequent differentiation holds water. He says the recent discovery of a language gene code, named FOXP2, gives support to the estimation that a common African language started branching out about 100,000 years ago.

Another good aspect of the book under review is that it gives in brief the introduction of Urdu s foremost authors along with brief excerpts from their writings that are at times rendered in English. Anybody interested in an overview of Urdu literature will find it handy. --Reviewed by Dr Rauf Parekh for DAWN, the English-language Pakistani news --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Abdul Jamil Khan, M.D., of New York, served as chairman of a teaching hospital and a professor of pediatrics specialized in infant speech development; he has now extended himself into linguistics studies, challenged by the pseudo science of race- and religion- driven linguistics, which he implicates in the anti-Semitic holocaust; its Indian parallel, the partition massacre; and other human right violations, a gross anathema to a physician-humanist.

His drive, though, stems from early education, learning six languages by 10th grade, facing political claims of a divine Arabic and divine Sanskrit and experiencing the tragedies of British division of India and its language.

Dr. Khan, an author of some hundred medical publications, has lately spoken on humanities, linguistics and cultural themes at universities and elsewhere, including Brooklyn Historical society. He also authored a book on his Afghan ancestors' migration to India. Dr. Khan is a co-editor of a periodical Health Message and has received media attention in the US and in India. He was featured by Brad Gooch in God Talk (Random House 2002), and Linda Cateura in Voices of American Muslims (Hippocrene Books 2005).

In re-synthesizing the genetic history of Urdu-Hindi and exposing the myth of the Sanskrit language and its script, he builds on ideas promoted by Italian linguist Cavalli Sforza and the newest classification of languages by Merrit Ruhlen. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: Algora Publishing; illustrated edition edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875864384
• ISBN-13: 978-0875864389
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Urdu
  • #45 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Hindi

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Impeccable Gem, November 22, 2006

By 

Saulat Mahmood - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide (HC) (Hardcover)

Dr. Jamil Khan does not shy away from introducing a new theory: that the British Empire deliberately created an "artificial divide" in the language of the Indian Hindus and Muslims. Instead of going along with the masses, Dr.Khan painstakingly researches and questions what has been largely accepted for generations-and offers an answer that fits even better.

He discusses how, contrary to what the British said at the time, that people of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi heritage are the descendants of common ancestors and share the same culture. Dr. Khan says that despite what others believe, Urdu was not derived from Arabic/Farsi, rather Urdu words were already in existence even before the Arab conquests in India. He traces Sanskrit back to Syria and Turkey.

Well-researched and well-written, the book gives in-depth information and creates a great deal of interest in a seemingly dry subject. Once begun, it is hard to put the book down. Simple, clear language and easy-to-read tables make the book even more enjoyable. This book is a gem for those who have even the remotest interest in history and linguistics: it is a must-read. The author must be congratulated and commended by linguists for his bold and unbiased effort to introduce a new-and perhaps more accurate-theory, challenging one that has been generally accepted for generations.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent !, December 14, 2006

By 

Irfan Ahmed (Horsham, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide (HC) (Hardcover)

The Politics of Language is a book written in an interesting way in its centuries old historical prospective as the human societies developed and started integrating.

Language helped people to know each other irrespective of their faith and believe.

However, Britain , who ruled India after the fall of Mughal umpire , used language as political weapon to dive Hindu and Muslim by getting their brain washed that Hindi is Hindu and Urdu is Muslim.

The political use of language by British India , as writer Abdul Jamail Khan has dwelt in length in his book, is a scientific analysis how the rulers divide the people to achieve their objective.

Dr Khan , s book is a valuable addition in the languages books written by

other writers but his book urges people all over the world to avoid hating each

on the basis of language as for centuries language has a great force in integrating the society.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound Historical Review, October 3, 2006

By 

Hina Ahmad (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Urdu/Hindi: An Artificial Divide (HC) (Hardcover)

Excellent research work by Dr. Khan! It is an illuminating book with detailed historical facts. A very thorough explanation of how English occupation used the tools of language to divide and rule the subcontinent by labeling Urdu as Muslim and Hindi as Hindu, resulting in the division of India into present-day India and Pakistan. It is a complete examination of the development of languages, with particular attention to the evolution of present-day Urdu which dates back to the Sumerian age some 6000 years ago. This is a book whose target audience spans the levels of a recreational reader to a `student' of history and linguistics.