~ History Of Indian Languages ~

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Oriya Language

Oriya, one of the 22 languages officially recognizes in India, belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is considered to be a sister language of Bengali and Assamese and is mainly spoken in the state of Orissa. However, one can also find people speaking the language in Midnapore district of West Bengal, Seraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand, Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and Bastar district of Chhatisgarh province. Of all the languages spoken in eastern India, Oriya is regarded as the one that has been the least influenced by Persian and Arabic.

History
Oriya, along with Bengali and Assamese, has been derived from the Eastern Magadhi Apabhramsa and trace its origin to the 10th century. In the 16th and 17th century, the language fell under the spell of Sanskrit. However, during the 17th and 18th centuries, it followed a new line of approach. The history of Oriya language is divided into Old Oriya (10th century-1300), Early Middle Oriya (1300-1500), Middle Oriya (1500-1700), Late Middle Oriya (1700-1850) and Modern Oriya (1850 till present day).

Old Oriya & Early Middle Oriya Literature (10th century to 1500)
Up to 1500 AD, Oriya literature mainly comprised of poems and prose that had religion, Gods and Goddesses as the main theme. The earliest use of prose in the language can be traced to the Madala Panji or the Palm-leaf Chronicles of the Jagannatha temple at Puri, which date back to the 12th century. The first great poet of Orissa was the famous Sarala-dasa, who wrote the Chandi Purana and the Vilanka Ramayana, both of them praising Goddess Durga. Rama-bibha, written by Arjuna-dasa, is regarded as the first long poem in Oriya language.

Middle Oriya Literature (1500 to 1700)
The next era is more commonly called the Jagannatha Dasa Period and stretches till the year 1700. The period began with the writings of Shri Chaitanya, whose Vaishnava influence brought in a new evolution in Oriya literature. Balarama Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Yasovanta, Ananta and Acyutananda were the main exponents in religious works in Oriya. The composers of this period mainly translated, adapted or imitated Sanskrit literature.

A few prominent works of this period include the Usabhilasa of Sisu Sankara Dasa, the Rahasya-manjari of Deva-durlabha Dasa and the Rukmini-bibha of Kartikka Dasa. A new form of novels in verse also evolved during the beginning of the 17th century, when Ramachandra Pattanayaka wrote Haravali. Other poets, like Madhusudana, Bhima, Dhivara, Sadasiva and Sisu Isvara-dasa, composed another form of poems called Kavyas (long poems based on themes from Puranas). The language used by them was plain and simple Oriya.

Late Middle Oriya Literature (1700 to 1850)
From the turn of the 18th century, verbally tricky Oriya became the order of the day. Verbal jugglery, obscenity and eroticism became the trend of the period, the most notable poet being Upendra Bhanja. Many other poets tried to imitate him, but none could fit into his shoes, with the exception of Bhima-Bhoi and Arakshita Dasa. Family chronicles in prose and literature related to religious festivals and rituals also covered a large portion of this period. The first Oriya printing typeset was cast in 1836, by the Christian missionaries. The actual Oriya script closely resembled Bengali and Assamese scripts, but the one adopted for the printed typesets was completely different, leaning more towards the Tamil script.

Modern Oriya Literature (1850 till present day)
In this period, three great poets and prose writers, Rai Bahadur Radhanatha Ray, Madhusudana Rao and Phakiramohana Senapati, settled in Orissa and made Oriya their own. They brought in a modern outlook and spirit into Oriya literature. Around the same time, the modern drama took birth in the works of Rama Sankara Ray, beginning with Kanci-Kaveri. 20th century writers in Oriya include Nanda-kisora Bal, Gangadhara Mehera, Chintamani Mahanti and Kuntala-Kumari Sabat Utkala-bharati, besides Niladri Dasa and Gopabandhu Dasa.

The most notable novelists till date are Umesa Sarakara, Divyasimha Panigrahi, Gopala Praharaja and Kalindi Charana Panigrahi. Sachi Kanta Rauta Ray is the great introducer of the ultra-modern style in modern Oriya poetry. Others who took up this form were Godavarisa Mahapatra, Dr Mayadhara Manasimha, Nityananda Mahapatra and Kunjabihari Dasa. Prabhasa Chandra Satpati is known for his translations of some western classics, apart from Udayanatha Shadangi, Sunanda Kara and Surendranatha Dwivedi.

Criticism, Essays and History
Criticism, essays and history also became major lines of writing in the Oriya language. The renowned writers in this field were Professor Girija Shankar Ray, Pandit Vinayaka Misra, Professor Gauri Kumara Brahma, Jagabandhu Simha and Hare Krushna Mahatab. Oriya literature mirrors the industrious, peaceful and artistic image of the Oriya people, who have offered and gifted much to the Indian civilization, in the field of art and literature.

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Punjabi Language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region both in Pakistan and India as well as in their Diasporas. Punjabi is spoken by approximately 88 million native speakers, making it the 11th most widely spoken language in the world. Punjabi is a significant language for the Sikhs and Punjabi speaking population is one of the greatest of the Indian subcontinent and, indeed, the world. The majority of Punjabi speakers live in Pakistan, but the language has gained no official status in Pakistan at all. In comparison to Urdu, it is not much used as a written language. Punjabi is the official language of the Indian state of Punjab and the shared state capital Chandigarh. It is one of the official languages of Delhi and the second language of Haryana. Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab (Pakistan), the largest province of Pakistan.

History
A successor of Sauraseni Prakrit, the chief language of medieval northern India, Punjabi emerged as an independent language in the 11th century from the Sauraseni Apabhramsa. Many ancient Sufi mystics and later Guru Nanak Dev ji, the first Guru of the Sikhism started the literary tradition in Punjabi. The early Punjabi literature has had a very rich oral tradition and was principally spiritual in nature. Muslim Sufi, Sikh and Hindu writers composed many works in Punjabi between 1600 and 1850. Baba Bulleh Shah was the most famous Punjabi Sufi poet who put Saraiki language Culture into the Punjabi Language

Major Punjabi dialects

Majhi
It spans the Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat and some parts of Jhelum in Pakistani Punjab and Amritsar District and Gurdaspur District of the Indian State of Punjab.

Jhangochi or Rachnavi
It is the oldest dialect of the Punjabi which is spoken throughout the area, starting from Khanewal and Jhang at both ends of Ravi and Chenab to Gujranwala district. It then goes down to Bahawalnagar and Chishtian araes, on the banks of river Sutlej.

Shahpuri
This dialect is spoken in Pakistani Punjab. This language has been spoken by the people of District Sargodha including Dera Chanpeer Shah, Khushab, Jhang, Mianwali, Attock, parts of Faisalabad (formerly Lyallpur), parts of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalnagar, Chakwal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab and Mandi Bahauddin districts.

Pothowari
This dialect is spoken in north Pakistani Punjab. The area extends in the north from Muzaffarabad to as far south as Jhelum, Gujar Khan, Chakwal and Rawalpindi.

Hindko
This dialect is spoken in north-west Pakistani Punjab and NWFP. This dialect is mainly spoken in districts of Peshawar, Attock, Nowshehra, Mansehra, Balakot, Abbotabad and Murree and the lower half of Neelum District and Muzafarabad.

Malwi
This is spoken in the eastern part of Indian Punjab. Main areas are Ludhiana, Ambala, Bathinda, Ganganagar, Malerkotla, Fazilka, Ferozepur. It also includes the Punjabi speaking northern areas of Haryana like Ambala, Hissar, Sirsa, Kurukshetra etc.

Doabi
Doabi spoken in Indian Punjab between the rivers of Beas and Sutlej. It includes Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts.

Pwadhi
Kharar, Kurali, Ropar, Nurpurbedi, Morinda, Pail, Rajpura and Samrala are the areas where the Pwadhi language is spoken.

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Sanskrit Language

Sanskrit is one of the official languages of India and is popularly known as a classical language of the country. It is considered as the mother of all languages. It belongs to the Indic group of language family of Indo-European and its descendents which are Indo-Iranian & Indo Aryan. The meaning of Sanskrit is refined, decorated or produced in perfect form. The language is also known for its clarity and beauty. It is also a language of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Sanskrit is now attracting the modern world. This is the only language that is used in holy functions and ceremonies of Hindus, as it has always been regarded as the sacred language of the religion. Sanskrit mantras, when recited in combination with the sound vibration, have a specific effect on the mind and the psyche of the individual.

History
It is said that Brahma was the creator and introduced Sanskrit language to the Sages of celestial bodies. Therefore, this language is also called Dev Vani, which means the language of gods. It was during 18th century when a similarity between Sanskrit, Latin and Greek was found, which gave the reason to study and discover the relationship of all Indo-European languages. The earliest form of Sanskrit language was Vedic Sanskrit that came approximately around 1500-200 B.C. This was the period when knowledge was imparted orally through the generations.

Literature
One of the oldest languages known for over thousands of years, Sanskrit literature is the richest literature in the history of humankind. The composition of hymns, poems, puranas during the Vedic period formed sacred scripts of Hindus. The oldest known texts in Sanskrit are the Rigveda, Sama-veda, Yajur-veda and the Atharva-veda. Classical Sanskrit based on the old Vedic speech came up approximately between 500 B.C.-1000 A.D. It was the period after which Panini composed his grammar of Sanskrit. The two great epics of this period were Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Number of speakers
Around 49,736 of the population speak the Sanskrit language fluently, according to the 1991 Indian census. Many Buddhist scholars of Japan, China, Thailand use Sanskrit language apart from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, some areas of south and Southeast Asia.

Writing system
Through the development of early classical Sanskrit literature, the oral tradition was maintained. Sanskrit was spoken in an oral society and the writing was not introduced to India until after Sanskrit had evolved into the Prakrits. The regional scripts of the scribe influenced the choice of writing system. Devanagari has been considered as the effective writing system for Sanskrit since the late 19th century. The reason for this could be the European practice of printing Sanskrit texts in this script. Brahmi developed into an array of scripts of the Brahmic family, many of which were used to write Sanskrit. The Kharosthi script was used in the northwest of the subcontinent. The Gupta script that has been derived from Brahmi, became prevalent around the 4th to 8th centuries CE. The Bengali script and the Oriya script were used in Eastern India. In the south, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Grantha were the scripts used for Sanskrit.

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Santhali Language

Santali, a language spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, is a language in the Santali subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. The literacy rate in Santali speaking regions is very low, just around 20-30%. It is basically spoken by the tribal people of India. The tribe that speaks this language is quite backward as far as the standard of living is concerned. Most of them work in the coal mines or the steel factories of Asansol and Jamshedpur. The tribe that speaks this language is known as Santhal. There is not a very regular distribution of people who speak the Santhali language. States like Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura and West Bengal are some of the place where one can easily find the speakers of this language. This language is actually a dialect of the Munda language.

Writing System
Even though the language is not much in use these days, some educated Santhals still use it to write books and other literary pieces. This language was written in the Roman script during the British rule. But now, Santhali is written in the Devanagari script. Due to its similarities with the Bengali language, many educated Santhali writers prefer writing it in Bengali. The reason for doing so is because of its similarities in the use of phonetics. It is estimated that the Santali language is older than the Aryan languages. The Santhal script is a relatively current advancement. Until the twentieth century, Santhali did not have a written language and it used Latin or Roman, Devanagari and Bangla writing systems.

Contribution of Pandit Raghunath Murmu
A need for the separate script was felt by some visionary Santhals, as none of the existing scripts was sufficient to communicate the Santali language phonetically. This further resulted in the invention of new script called Ol Chiki. This script was invented by Pandit Raghunath Murmu in 1925. Raghunath Murmu is popularly known as Guru Gomke among the Santals, a title awarded to him by the Mayurbhanj Adibasi Mahasabh. The alphabets of the language are known as Ol Chiki, though people are not very well versed in it. Pandit Raghunath Murmu is respected among Santhals for his noble deed, action and contribution of the script Ol Chiki for the Santhal society. For uplifting the Santhal community, he contributed a lot through his pen and writings. He wrote over 150 books covering a wide range of subjects. It includes works such as grammar, novels, drama, poetry, and short stories in Santali using Ol Chiki as part of his extensive programme. Among the most acclaimed of his works are Darege Dhan, Sidhu-Kanhu, Bidu Chandan and Kherwal Bir Pandit.

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Sindhi Language

Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan. It is spoken by approximately 18 million people in Pakistan, making it the third most spoken language of Pakistan and the official language of Sindh in Pakistan. It is also spoken in India and has also been made an official language of India. It is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Sindhi and Urdu are the two languages in which the government of Pakistan issues national identity cards to its citizens.

Sindhi is taught as a first language in the schools of Sindh and as a second language in Balochistan in Pakistan. In India, especially in the states of Maharashtra & Gujarat, Sindhi is either taught as the medium of instruction or as a subject by many educational institutions managed by Sindhi community. Due to its vast vocabulary, it is a favorite of many writers and therefore, much literature and poetry have been written in Sindhi. Southern Punjab, Balochistan, Northwest province of Pakistan (NWFP), Gujarat and Rajasthan are the places where dialects of Sindhi are spoken.

History
Sindhi was a very popular literary language between the 14th and 18th centuries. The ancestor of Sindhi was an Apabhramsha Prakrit, named 'Vrachada'. Abu-Rayhan Biruni in his book 'Mal al-Hind' had declared that even before the advent of Islam in Sindh, the language was common in the region. It was not only widely spoken, but also written in three different scripts. Ardhanagari, Saindhu and Malwari, all variations of Devanagari were the three different scripts in which it was written. During the British period Devanagari, Modi or Vanika scripts, without any vowels were used by the traders and common people including Khojas and Memons for writing Sindhi, whereas government employees used some kind of Arabic script.

Writing System
The Sindhi Hindus followed Devanagari script for writing the language (which they do even today). However, a modified Arabic script was produced with the Arab invasion of Sindh and the conversion of most Sindhis to Islam. The government of India introduced Devanagari, alongside the official Arabic script, for writing Sindhi after the independence of both Pakistan and India from British rule. Given below are the two most common scripts used for Sindhi language.

1.Arabic Script: Sindhi is written in a variant of the Persian alphabet in Pakistan. This was adopted under the support of the British, when Sindh fell to them in the 19th century. It has a total of 52 letters. Some letters that are distinguished in Arabic or Persian are homophones in Sindhi

2.Devanagari Script: In India, the Devanagari script is used to write Sindhi. In 1948, the government of India re-introduced it. However, it did not gain full acceptance that is the reason both the Sindhi-Arabic and Devanagari scripts are used. To mark implosive consonants diacritical bars below the letter are used. The dots known as nukta are used to form other additional consonants.

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Tamil Language

Tamil is the oldest and purest of the four Dravidian languages, others being Kannada, Kodagu and Malayalam. Ancient Indian literature is not all about the Vedas; it’s about Sangam literature too. Tamil, the oldest and truest of the Dravidian speeches, boasts of this literary tradition of more than 2,200 years, the most remarkable body of secular poetry extant in India. While other pre-Aryan languages were happily courting Sanskrit and Prakrit, Old Tamil stood firm in its corner refusing to yield. However, the evolutionary story of the language and script are a controversy among scholars even today.

Sangam Compositions
The Sangam compositions are anthologies of poems grouped into two - the Eight Collections (Ettuttokai) and the Ten Idyls (Pattu-p-pattu). There are also few individual long narrative poems (Kavyas). Based on two distinct themes, akam (romantic) and puram (martial), the poems are replete with imageries of seasons, places, plants and animals, enabling scholars to know the world of these ancient poets. The literary output until about 500 AD is simply amazing.

Devotional Literature
By the next century, Shaiva (in praise of Shiva) and Vaishanva (in praise of Vishnu) writers began rising from sleep, leading to a religious renaissance. It was the turn of devotional literature to hog the limelight. The corpuses of Shaiva hymns, sung until today, were compiled in Tirumurarais (early 11th century). The Vaishnava saints lay the foundation of the Bhakti cult not only for South India (500-1000AD), but also for the whole of India. Their songs were put together in the colossal Nal-ayira-p-pirapantam, also known as the ‘Book of 4000 Hymns’.

Literary Revival
Some of the great Tamil poets lived in the times of the mighty Chola kings (10th-13th centuries), a period of literary revival. Kampan’s Ramayana is the best in Tamil until today. Ottakkuttan wrote the Uttara Kanda, the last canto of the Ramayana. Pukazhenti popularized the Mahabharata with his simple adaptations in Tamil, and Chayam Kontar wrote a long war poem 'Kalingattu Parani', in the Sangam style. Didactic works, grammatical treatises and lexicons were produced from time to time by Jain writers.

Age of Commentaries On Sangam Poetry & Sanskrit Literature
After the literary revival, it was the age of learned commentaries on Sangam poetry, Shaiva and Vaishnava philosophies, and literature influenced by Sanskrit. Some of these were the esteemed Bharatham by Villiputthurar, Thiruppuhazh (hymns) by Arunagirinathar and translations of many Puranas. Some brilliant stray verses of this period have been collected in late anthologies, like Kalamegham, Satthimutthapulavar and Padikkasu Thambiran. European Christian missionaries also took to Tamil in the 16th century, and the first book was printed in 1579. Muslim poets like Sakkari Pulavar and Umaru Pulavar brought new themes in Tamil writings in the 18th century.

Modern Tamil Literature
A modern trend in Tamil literature began in the 19th century by a group of writers influenced by English, Vedanayakam Pillai being among them who wrote the first original novels and dramas. A literary giant of the 20th century was Subramania Bharathi, whose poems and patriotic songs are well known. Although the development of prose has been pretty slow, the historical romances of C R Srinivasa Aiyangar, social novels like Padmavati and Vijaya Marttandam of A. Madhavayya, Kamalambal by Rajam Iyer and S. Venkataramani’s Murugam are prominent. The short story was popularized by V V S Iyer and Rajaji, while Sambanda Mudaliar’s adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays contributed to Tamil drama greatly.

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Telugu Language

Telugu Language is the official language of Andhra Pradesh, a southern state of the Indian subcontinent. According to the historical records, the language was originated in the 1st century AD, or perhaps even before. Early inscriptions of the language date from around the 6th century, but a proper literary career starts five centuries later. The script, almost similar to that of Kannada, took shape in 1000AD from the Pahlava script of 7AD. The vocabulary of Telugu language is largely Indo-Aryan and has been influenced by Sanskrit, which is regarded as the mother of the Indian languages.

Translation From Sanskrit
Most literatures began with translations from Sanskrit. So did Telugu, with Nannayabhatta (1020AD), the adikavi or ‘first poet’ of Telugu translating the Mahabharata. It was an unusual translation, with lots of clever innovations, but no deviations from the story. However, Nannayabhatta couldn’t complete the job. Tikanna in the around 13th century contributed in the translation. However, it was Yerrapragada (14th century) who was finally able to clinch it. Nannaya, Tikanna and Yerrapragada are known as the kavitraya or ‘the three great poets’ of Telugu for their mammoth effort. Other such translations followed, like Marana’s Markandeya Purana, Ketana’s Dasakumara Charita, Yerrana’s Harivamsa and others.

Original Telugu Works And Poetry
By the time the Telugu poets wrote down some original stuff along with translations, it was almost the end of the 14th century. Slowly, but steadily, they picked up, some landmarks being Srinatha’s Sringara Naishadha, Potana’s Dasamaskandha, Jakkana’s Vikramarka Charitra and Talapaka Himmakka’s Subhadra Kalyana. Literary activities flourished, especially during the mighty Vijayanagara emperors. The 16th century was the golden age in the history of Tamil literature, thanks to the king Krishna Deva Raya. The raja, a poet himself, introduced the prabandha (a kind of love poetry) in Telugu literature in his Amukta Malyada.

He had in his court the Ashtadiggajas (literal: eight elephants), who were the greatest of poets of the times. Original verse compositions and stories were written in a new zeal. Of those eight, Allasani Peddana (1510-1575AD) is known as Andhra Kavita Pitamahudu or ‘Grandfather of Andhra Poetry’. Kankanti Paparaju's Uttara Ramayana in campu style and the play Vishnumayavilasa were highly admired during 19th century. Tyagaraya of Tanjore (19th century) composed devotional songs in Telugu from the repertoire of the classical ragas of South India.

Telugu Books
The first printed Telugu book was out in 1796. Young men acquainted with English literature tried to imitate Shelly, Keats and Wordsworth, and a new type of romantic poetry called the Bhavakavithwa was born. Bengali novelists like Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Ramesh Chandra Dutta were a major influence on modern Telugu fiction. Viresalingam Pantulu (1848-1919) wrote the first novel in Telugu, Rakashekharacharitramu. Other writers such as the dramatist Dharmavaram Krishnamachari, Chilakamarti Lakshminarasimham (also called the ‘blind poet of Andhra Desha’) the poets and dramatists Gurujada Apparavu and D. Krishnamacharlu contributed to build modern Telugu literature.

Sahiti Samiti
The literary group Sahiti Samiti was set up in 1921, and their ‘progressive and rationalist’ journal Sahiti was followed by several others. Even now many writers like Tirupati Venkata Kavulu, Sripada Krishnamurthy Shastry and Vavilakolanu Subbarao preferred the old traditional style. Today the drama, novel, short story, essay and criticism in Telugu have reached high standards although they started only a century ago.

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Urdu Language

Urdu is regarded to be the most poetic of all languages in India. Spoken by more than 28 million people in the country, the language has been written in the Perso-Arabic script. The word Urdu (court or camp) stems from the Persianized Turkish word 'Ordu', which meant ‘the camp of a Turkish army’. Unfortunately, the lyrical language of Urdu no longer enjoys the same position that it used to. However, Urdu is still encouraged in a number of Indian states, especially Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. Present day Hindi has borrowed a lot from Urdu, in terms of grammar, diction and even idioms.

History
North Indian Muslims moved to south and central India with their own dialects and settled among the Marathas, Kannadigas and Telugus. The dialects used by them formed the basis of a literary speech known as Dakhni or the ‘Southern Speech’, and was spoken in the Deccan. Later, north Indian Muslims, who came with Aurangzeb, for his conquests down south, and some Dakhni writers saw the possibility of evolving a new language. This language, based on the literary traditions of Dakhni and having Persian script, along with generous usage of Perso-Arabic words, idioms and theme ideas, came to be known as Urdu.

Shamsuddin Waliullah, a famous poet of the Dakhni, actually started North Indian Urdu. Other poets also joined in this new literary upsurge and subsequently came to Delhi. With this, the Delhi style of Urdu took birth. Court circles, Persian and Arabic scholars and especially the Muslims of Delhi adapted this language with great eagerness and by the end of the 18th century, the Mughal house turned only to Urdu. The term Four Pillars of Urdu is attributed to the four early poets: Mirza Jan-i-Janan Mazhar of Delhi, Mir Taqi of Agra, Muhammad Rafi Sauda and Mir Dard.

During this time, Lucknow became a rival centre for the patronage of Urdu literature and masters of Urdu poetry received patronage from the court of the Nawabs. The most illustrious poets of the pre-modern period were Muhammad Ibrahim Zauq of Delhi and Nazmuddaulah Dabiru-i-Mulk. However, Urdu literature can never be complete without the mention of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib. A Sufi mystic, Ghalib wrote in both Urdu and Persian. The humane feelings, Sufi sentiments, simplistic lines and deep observations of Ghalib made him the greatest Urdu and Persian poet of all times.

Modern Urdu Literature
Modern Urdu literature covers the time from the last quarter of the 19th century till the present day and can be divided into two periods: the period of the Aligarh Movement (started by Sir Sayyid Ahmad) and the period influenced by Sir Muhammad Iqbal. However, Altaf Husain Panipati, known as Hali or ‘the Modern One’, was the actual innovator of the modern spirit in Urdu poetry. Hindu writers of Urdu were not far behind and among the earliest writers; we can count Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar and Brij Narain Chakbast. One of the most famous poets of modern Urdu was Sayyid Akbar Husain Razvi Ilahabadi, who had a flair for extempore composition of satiric and comic verses.

Modern Urdu Writers
After 1936, Urdu picked up a progressive attitude and leaned more towards the common problems of life. Poetry, novels, short stories and essays were the avenues of liberal expression. The main exponents of this new line of approach were the short story writers Muhammad Husain Askari, Miranji, Faiz Ahmad ‘Faiz’, Sardar Ali Jafari and Khwajah Ahmad Abbas. Munshi Premchand, the greatest novelist of Hindi, initially began writing in Urdu, but switched to Hindi later on. In spite of Urdu being considered a little tilted towards Islamic lines, there have been some great Hindu writers, such as Krishan Chandar, Rajindar Singh Bedi and Kanhaiyalal Kapur, who made the language their very own.