Dakhini (Urdu: دکنی) also spelled Dakkhani and Deccani, arose as a Muslim court language of the Deccan Plateau ca. 1300 AD in ways similar to Urdu. It is similar to Urdu in its mixture of Persian with a Hindi base, but differs in its strong influence from Arabic, Urdu, Konkani and Marathi, and its Telugu surroundings in Andhra Pradesh. There is an extensive literature.

Overview[link]

Dakhini is spoken in the Deccan plateau region of India. Just as Urdu developed in Lucknow, Dakhini developed in Deccan plateau quite surprisingly not from Urdu but parallel to it, due to the mixing of various Indian based languages, Arabic and Persian based languages. The term Dakhini is perhaps an umbrella for a group of dialects spoken by certain communities of Muslims in the Deccan region.

Dakhini was the lingua franca of the Muslims of Deccan, chiefly living in Hyderabad state, Mysore state and the Hyderabad–Karnataka Region, covering most of Deccan plateau except for Moplah Muslims of Kerala and the Labbewaar Muslims in Tamil Nadu in the south, to the Beary Bhashe language and Konkani speaking Muslims along the western coast of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. Though, a minor Segment of Kerala Muslims do speak the Dakhini dialect and identify themself as Dakhini Muslims who follows Hanafi Mazhab(Hanafi School).

Though popularly considered as a dialect of Urdu, there is no strong evidence supporting the claim. Dakhni for all practical purposes today is an oral language which is flexible enough to be visually represented by different scripts like Devanagari or Urdu or even Persian. Dakhini was widely spoken across the Deccan plateau peninsula with subtle changes in the dialect as you go down south away from Hyderabad, ending as a heavily Tamilized version around the middle of Tamil Nadu.

Dakhini mainly spoken by the Muslims living in these areas can also be divided into 2 dialects:

North Dakhini - Spoken in areas of Former Hyderabad State: Mainly Hyderabad City, Telangana Region, Marathwada, Hyderabad-Karnataka, Gulbarga, Bidar & Raichur in Present day Karnataka, minority native Goan Konkani Muslims in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka with some variation,and Goan Muslim dialect in Goa.

South Dakhini - Spoken along Central Karnataka, Bangalore, North Tamil Nadu, Southern Andhra Pradesh extending up-til Chennai and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh . These were the areas under the Mysore and Carnatic sultanates and a Minor Dakhini Muslim community of Kerala.

North Dakhini is spoken with an added influence of pure Urdu and while South Dakhini draws slightly more influences from Marathi, Kannada and Tamil, it has quite a number of original words not to be found in Urdu or Northern Dakhini, with even a slightly varied grammar and sentence structuring. This particularly points towards possible signs that Dakhini as a language in its own sense could have evolved from the Southern parts much more than the Northern variation.

This tongue is used extensively in the spoken form; when it comes to writing and literary work, standard Urdu is used.

History[link]

The Urdu language from Delhi was introduced in the Deccan region during Alauddin Khilji invasion in between 1295 AD to 1316 AD. It became more popular in deccan during and after Muhammad bin Tughluq shifted the Sultanate capital from Delhi and made the kingdom capital to the city of Daulatabad in 1327 AD. Revolting against the Sultanate was formed Bahmani Sultanate in 1347 AD making Daulatabad as its sultanate capital which was later shifted to Gulbargah and in 1430 the capital atlast moved to Bidar, Bahmani Sultanate existed for around 150 years, and expanded almost into the entire Deccan Plateau (which was then named as Deccan). All these circumstances of shifting of power, moving of capitals and expansion of sultanate created a growing atmosphere for the Urdu language of Delhi, which was then came to be known as Deccani and received patronage from its rulers, though it was known with other names such as Hinduastani, Zaban Hinduastani, Dehalvi and Hindawi. The sufi's during those periods were the earliest to use Deccani in written form. The earliest available manuscript record is Kadam Rao Padam Rao a Masnavi of Fakhruddin Nizami, written during 1421-1434 AD.

When Mughals took over Deccan many notable personalities, secular and religious settled in the Deccan, have caused the language to spread through the borders that now form parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. One such poet of Mughal region was Wali Deccani (1667–1707), the first established poet to have composed Ghazals and compiled a divan (a collection of ghazals where the entire alphabet is used at least once as the last letter to define the rhyme pattern).

Classification[link]

Dakhini is part of the Indo-Aryan grouping of the Indo-European languages. South Dakhini Urdu is widely spoken by the Muslim in all parts of Tamil Nadu except may be the southern part and also in parts of Pondicherry. A minor segment of Muslims in Kerala also speak Dakhini Urdu.

Geographic distribution[link]

Most speakers of Dakhini live in the Indian region known as the Deccan. They inhabit the regions comprising the erstwhile Muslim kingdoms in Deccan Plateau viz. portions of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa

Dialects[link]

Dialects of Dakhini include Savji bhasha i.e. the language of the Savji community in the Hubli, Dharwad, Gadag, Bijapur, Belgaum region.

See also[link]

• Hyderabadi Urdu
• Urdu in Aurangabad
• Nawayathi (Kumta, Honnavar, Bhatkal)

References[link]

External links[link]

"Dakhni: The Language in which the Composite Culture of India was Born" - http://www.bangalorenotes.com/dakhni.htm

Iqbal Bano (Urdu: اقبال بانو), PP (1935, Delhi - 21 April 2009, Lahore)^[2] was a highly acclaimed female Ghazal singer from Pakistan.^[3] She was best known for her semi-classical Urdu ghazal songs and classical thumris, but also sang easy-listening numbers in 1950s films.

Early life[link]

Iqbal Bano was born in Delhi, British India.^[1][2] From a young age, she developed a love for music. It was a crucial moment of her life when her friend's father told Bano's father, "My daughters do sing reasonably well, but Iqbal is blessed in singing. She will become a big name if you begin her training."^{[citation needed]} Her father allowed her to study music.

In Delhi, she studied under Ustad Chaand Khan of the Delhi Gharana, an expert in all kinds of pure classical and light classical forms of vocal music.^[4] He instructed her in pure classical music and light classical music within the framework of classical forms of thumri and dadra. She was duly initiated Gaandaabandh shagird of her Ustad.

Career[link]

Ustad Chaand Khan referred her to All India Radio, Delhi, where she sang on the radio.

In 1952, aged 17, she married into a land-owning family in Pakistan.^[4] She moved to Multan with her husband who promised her that he would never try to stop her from singing, but would rather encourage and promote her.^[5] She was a star by the 1950s, singing soundtrack songs for famous Urdu films like Gumnaam (1954), Qatil (1955), Inteqaam (1955), Sarfarosh (1956), Ishq-e-Laila (1957), and Nagin (1959).

In Pakistan[link]

Her husband died in 70's, after which she moved to Lahore from Multan. It was observed that her temperament was particularly suited to vocal genres like thumri, dadra and ghazal.

Iqbal Bano was later invited by Radio Pakistan for classical performances. Her debut public concert took place in 1957, at the Lahore Arts Council.

She was considered a specialist in singing the ghazals of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. In 1985, Bano became a cult icon when she roused a strong crowd of 50,000 people in Lahore by singing Faiz's passionate Urdu anthem, Hum Dekhenge (We Will See), despite the poet's works being banned by General Zia ul-Haq's military regime on the grounds of his close ties with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. In due course, she generated more and more public appeal and became a specialist in singing the kalam of Faiz Ahmad Faiz.^[6] Her inciting ghazals were an act of defiance and resistance at a time when the government manipulated its people like robots.

She was considered a great singer of the ghazals of Nasir Kazmi. She also sang Persian poetry, which became popular in Iran and Afghanistan. In pre-1979 Afghanistan, she was often invited to the annual cultural fair, the Jashn-e-Kabul.

In light classical, her presentation of Thumris in Raag Khamaj (Kahay Sataey Mohe), Tilak Kamod (Sautan Fhar Na Ja), Des (Naheen Parey Mohe Chaen), Pilu (Gori Torey Naina Kajal Bin Kalay) and others such renderings which have become ever-green classics

Music lovers noted some similarities between Bano and Begum Akhtar, especially some marked resemblances in their styles of singing. Bano's recitals stuck to a classical style that lays more stress on the raag purity.

She was awarded the Pride of Performance by the Pakistani Government in 1974 for her outstanding achievements in classical music.

Awards[link]

• Pride of Performance(1974)^[1]

Death[link]

At the age of 74, Iqbal Bano died in Lahore on April 21, 2009, after a short illness.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Iqbal Bano is no more - The News International
• BBC report of Bano's death
• Biodata
• Tribute to Iqbal Bano
• Official facebook fanpage
• Obituary in The Independent (UK) by Ken Hunt, published 5 May 2009

Wali Muhammad Wali (1667–1707), (also known as Wali Deccani, Urdu: ولی دکنی, Wali Gujarati and Wali Aurangabadi) was a classical Urdu poet of the subcontinent.

He is the first established poet to have composed Ghazals in Urdu language and compiled a divan (a collection of ghazals where the entire alphabet is used at least once as the last letter to define the rhyme pattern).

Before Wali, Indian Ghazal was being composed in Persian – almost being replicated in thought and style from the original Persian masters like Saa'di, Jami and Khaqani. Wali began using not only an Indian language, but Indian themes, idioms and imagery in his ghazals. It is said that his visit to Delhi along with his divan of Urdu ghazals created a ripple in the literary circles of the north, inspiring them to produce stalwarts like Zauq, Sauda and Mir.

Early life[link]

Born in 1667 at Aurangabad, an important town in the present Maharashtra State. He loved travelling, which he regarded as a means of education.

Career[link]

Wali Mohammed Wali's visit to Delhi in 1700 is considered to be of great significance for Urdu Gazals. His simple, sensuous and melodious poems in Urdu, awakened the Persian loving poets of Delhi to the beauty and capability of "Rekhta" (the old name for Urdu) as a medium of poetic expression. His visit thus stimulated the growth and development of Urdu Ghazal in Delhi.

Wali died in Ahmedabad in 1707, and was buried in the same city. On 28 February 2002, a mob tore down Wali’s little tomb in Ahmedabad and dug up his grave. An idol of Hulladio Hanuman was placed over the rubble. Overnight, the road was tarred and now no sign remains. Wali’s grave had stood outside the gate of the police commissioner’s office.

Genre[link]

Although Wali tried his hand at a variety of verse forms including the masnavi, qasida, mukhammas, and the rubai, the ghazal is his speciality. He wrote 473 ghazals containing 3,225 couplets (Ashaar).

Themes[link]

His favorite theme was love – both mystical and earthy – and his characteristic tone was one of cheerful affirmation and acceptance, rather than of melancholy grumbling. He was the first Urdu poet to have started the practice of expressing love from the man's point of view, as against the prevailing convention of impersonating as a woman.

If, on the one hand, Wali unraveled the beauty and richness of the native language as a poetic medium, on the other, he was alive to the vigour and verve of Persian diction and imagery which he successfully incorporated into the body of his verse. He may thus be called the architect of the modern poetic language, which is a skillful blend of Hindi and Persian vocabulary.

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah
• Siraj Aurangabadi
• Azad Bilgrami
• Urdu
• Urdu poetry
• List of Urdu Poets

External links[link]

• Wali Mohammed Wali's Poetry
• Wali's Biography
• Wali Mohammed Wali at Kavita Kosh
• Frontline Volume 19 – Issue 10, May 11–24, 2002