Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s5.t2: 3.5.2 Islamic languages (Arabic, Persian, Urdu)

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s5.t2

Language: English

3.5.2 Islamic languages (Arabic, Persian, Urdu)

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Z. A. Desai, “Arabic and Persian Inscriptions,” AI 9, 1953, 224–32; SIE, 31–8; V. S. Bendrey, *A Study of Muslim Inscriptions*.

Inscriptions in the Islamic languages⁸⁹ first appeared in India in the last decade of the twelfth century A.D. (Desai 226) and gradually became more numerous, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and continued into the nineteenth. In the earlier centuries Arabic was the preferred language, but from the fourteenth century on Persian became more prevalent, while Urdu came into use only from the mideighteenth century on. Bilinguals among these languages, especially Arabic and Persian, are common, as are bilinguals with Indic languages (e.g., Persian and Sanskrit or Kannada). In general, Islamic inscriptions are most numerous in northern India, but they are found in virtually all parts of the subcontinent.

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⁸⁹ “Islamic” is used here as a term of historical and cultural convenience, rather than as a linguistic category; cf. n. 80.

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The majority of the inscriptions in Islamic languages are dedicatory in nature, recording the construction of mosques or other religious buildings, or of secular works such as wells, gates, forts, and so on. Other common types are endowments, administrative records, and memorials (tombstones, etc.).

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Unlike Indo-Aryan and Dravidian inscriptions, the Islamic inscriptions do not constitute a major primary source of historical information, not only because they are of no great antiquity but, more importantly, because (unlike earlier times) extensive historical chronicles are available for the period concerned. Nonetheless, Indo-Muslim epigraphy is important as a source of corroborative and supplementary historical and cultural data.⁹⁰

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⁹⁰ For examples see Desai, 229–32.