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Chapter V the Use of the Arabic During the Maratha

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Chapter V the Use of the Arabic During the Maratha CHAPTER V THE USE OF THE ARABIC DURING THE MARATHA PERIOD Introduction The use of Arabic during: a) The Pre-Muslim Rule b) The Muslim Rule c) The Maratha Rule Writings of Sufis and Mystics of Maharashtra during the Maratha Period. Linguistic and Cultural Synthesis. 216 Introduction It is a historical fact that the Arabs and the Indians have been acquainted with each other form the time immemorial and have lived on the opposite shores of the Arabian Sea. This naturally led to a considerable amount of cultural and commercial exchanges. From the end of the seventh century onwards these relations became more intimate when Arab traders started settling down along the coast of western regions of India. Accoridng to Al-Masudi (d.956 A.D.) large communities of Arabs were found settled in Chaul and other towns of the Konkan region of Bombay. Nama„ . r 2 has referred to Thana, Dabul (Dhabol) and Mandan (Malwan) which were known to the Arab merchants who landed on the western coast. They came in close contacts with the local population. The obvius impact of this contact among other things was the transmission of Arabic words in the Indian languages spoken in the maritime regions of western and southern India. This is evident from the first stone inscription in Marathi (1367-68 A.D.). found at the foot-step of the Bhimeshwar temple at Nagaon, Dist. Colaba (south Bombay), wherein few Arabic and Persian words are found viz. Hijri, Jamia't, Masjid, 3 Mahru, Muhammad, Dawar, Haji etc. There is also another inscription of the year 1398 A.D. on the back wall of the Maruti temple at Tuljapur, 21 B Dist. Osmanabad in the Karnataka State. S.G. Tulpule, in his historical work 'Yadav Kalin Marathi Bhasha' has given a list of such Arabic/Persian words used in various inscriptions viz. Masjid, Poshida, Parvarish, Malik, Qutbuddin, Qamruddin, Ba-hadur, Mast, Dam etc. Tulpule further states that the use of such words may be due to the influence of Arab travellers and merchants visiting these places. 1. The use of Arabic during the Pre-Muslim Period It is a general belief that the advent of the Muslim rule in the Deccan in the year 1296 A.D. and its dominance for almost three and a half centuries has contributed to the enrichment of Marathi language with the vocables of Arabic-Persian words on a large scale in all spheres. However, when we examine the growth and development of Marathi literature during the rule of the Yadavas of Devegiri in the closing years of the 13th century, we find that the poet-saint of Maharashtra Jnyaneshwar, who in fact laid the foundation of the Marathi literature, has used some Arabic and Persian words in his philosophical works Jnaneshwari and Amritanubhav. 4 Tulpule has given a list of such Arabic-Persian words. He states that it is generally believed that there are no words of Arabic and Persian origin in Jnaneshwari and other literature of the Yadav period. Rajwade, Abdul Huq 22(1 and Patwardhan were of the opinion that during Yadav period, pure Marathi was in use and that there was no influence of any foreign language on Marathi during 12th g and 13th centuries. Devare had also expressed the same 9 view. However, Tulpule has confirmed the fact that Arabic and Persian words have been used in the Marathi literature of the 12th and 13th centuries. A list of such words is tabulated below: Marathi English Arabic/Persian Potadi Nisan •Hltlcj) Maleka Peroz Ta ji Rukha Rushwat Sultan Turuk Jahri Bida' Niyat Sar Sad SFTR" Angar 3ratT Anchal Kand Yaksar Khai Dar anrm Aaram Nav Aksar 221 After Jnaneshwar, a number of poet-saints of Maharashtra wrote mystic poetry in Marathi, the popular language of the people. In the poetic compositions of the Maharashtra saints Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram and Ramdas are also found the influence of Arabic and Persian words. This aspect has already been discussed in Chapter IV. Thus it will be seen that the gradual assimilation of the Arabic/Persian words into Marathi language had already started before the invasion of the Deccan by the Khaljis. 2. The use of Arabic during the Muslim Rule After the establishment of the Bahmani dynasty in the Deccan in 1347 A.D., there was a continuous influx of scholars, eminent Poets and Sufis from Persia and Iraq. Similarly a large number of savants, scholars and men of letters and Sufi Saints had come to the south during the forced migration imposed by Muhammad b. Tughluq. The founder of the Bahmani Kingdom himself belonged to the royal family of Iran. It was therefore natural that a favourable atmosphere for the study and promotion of Persian language and literature was created. Diplomatic contacts were established between Iran and the Bahmani State. These diplomatic relationships were further strengthened during the period of the succeeding dynasties after the fall of the Bahmani Kingdom. The Bahmanis ruled 2 2 2 over the Deccan for nearly two centuries. Persian became the court language and soon it came to be cultivated both by the elites of the Brahmins and Muslims. Its natural consequence was that the influence of Arabic-Persian on the regional language Marathi was soon felt. Though Persian was the court language of the Bahmanis, Marathi continued to be used in other spheres viz. keeping of accounts. 12 It was the only link between the rulers and the ruled. As such so many of the Persian words became current and were used by the people. Even the elite knowing Arabic/Persian also started using Marathi words in their daily usage. This consolidated the impact of the Persian and Arabic phrases and words in Marathi language. From 1294 to 1687 A.D., Deccan was under the rule of local dynasties. During this long period new arts and crafts, science, trade and professions were introduced into the varioius parts of the Kingdom. The words and terminology of all these had to be learnt by all those people who took up these professions or trade from the rulers. In the course of time, these factors played an important role in promoting the use of Arabic and, Persian words in Marathi language. Secondly, the impact of the Muslim culture for nearly three and half centuries also played an important part in the gradual growth of the use of Arabic and Persian words spread on a large scale in all spheres. 22;^ It is an accepted fact that political conquests and dominance alone cannot affect the basic structure of a language. However, the language always evolves and assimilates the inlfuences it goes through because of a different political and administrative language. The language of the people also naturally influences greatly the dominant language of the rulers. Mutual influece of one over the other will have to be contented with. This leads to the process of borrowing words from each other. This "give and take" continued in Maharashtra for a long time and it not only enriched the Marathi language with Arabic and Persian words but it also brought in some grammatical constructs and the stylistic expressions of Arabic/Persian into the Marathi language. The long rule of the Muslim dynasties extending to quite a few centuries affected the language of the people to a great extent. The people came into close contact with Muslim bureaucracy in royal courts, judiciary, army and many other spheres of every day life. Besides the language, close relations had affected their dress, social customs, culture and even to some extent their religion. 3. The use of Arabic during the Maratha Rule To assess the influence and impact of Arabic and Persian on Marathi language and literature, we will discuss the important factors responsible for the same. 2-M Firstly, we will consider the historical writings which consists of (i) the Maratha chronicles known as 'The Bhakhars' and (ii) the Government correspondence. (i) The Maratha chronicles or the Bakhar; 13 Though the Muslims ruled over Deccan from 1294 to 1686 A.D. the impact of their rule survived long after. The political and administrative correspondence both at the local as well as internatioal level even after the termination of the rule of the Muslim dynasties continued to be in Persian. The territory which Shivaji occupied from 1650 A.D. onwards in the region called 'Deccan', came slowly to be known as Maharashtra. The Maratha historians imitating the Muslims started writing the chronicles of Maratha history (Bakhars) for the period 1707-1818 A.D. The political and administrative correspondence of this period mainly uses Marathi and this constitutes the bulk of prose literature in Marathi. The term 'Bakhar' itself is the corruption of the Arabic word 'Khabar' which means news or information. (ii) Government Correspondence 14 (The Patraveohar); The literary prose sources of Marathi of this period are mainly in the form of contemporary records like: Sanad (grants), Mahazar (decrees), Yadi (memorandas), Haqiqat (narration of proceedings), Kaifiyat (statements), Carina (written representations), Kuligata' (family stories), Gavzada (rolls of village lands), Sakavali (family chronologies) and Akhba$rs (news letters). 225 These are Arabic/Persian words used in combination with Marathi words e.g. Kulqata^ 'Kul' is Marathi whereas 'Oat^a' is Arabic. Words of three languages viz. Arabic, Persian and Marathi are used. Many Bakhras have been written between the period A.D. 1600 and 1900 A.D. Various Bakhras of the histories belonging to this period are examined here from the view of the usage of Arabic and Persian vocabulary in Marathi. Only the important Bakhars (chronicles) of different Maratha periods i.e.
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