The Institutes of Akbar 262.4

262.4

The most important reform introduced by Todar Mall is the change in the language and the character used for the revenue accounts. Formerly they had been kept in Hindí by Hindú Muharrirs. Todar Mall ordered that all government accounts should henceforth be written in Persian. He thus forced his co-religionists to learn the court language of their rulers,—a circumstance which may well be compared to the introduction of the English language in the courts of India. The study of Persian therefore became necessary for its pecuniary advantages. Todar Mall’s order, and Akbar’s generous policy of allowing Hindús to compete for the highest honors—we saw on p. 341 that Mán Singh was the first Commander of Seven Thousand,—explain two facts, first, that before the end of the 18th century the Hindus had almost become the Persian teachers of the Muhammadans ; secondly, that a new dialect could arise in upper India, the Urdú, which without the Hindus as receiving medium, never could have been called into existence. Whether we attach more influence to Todar Mall’s order or to Akbar’s policy, which once initiated, his successors, willing or not, had to follow, one fact should be borne in mind that before the times of Akbar, the Hindus, as a rule, did not study Persian, and stood therefore politically below their Muhammadan rulers.