Twilight of the Sultanate c16.s6.1

c16.s6.1

Besides the work produced in classical languages, the fifteenth century in particular saw the development of Hindi and many other regional languages. Many causes contributed towards this development. Because of the new political set-up, stresses of the times, and lack of patronage from the kings, Sanskrit lost its old position. A common medium of expression was the natural outcome of the contact between the foreigners and Indians. Thus developed Hindustani, a great poet of which was Amīr Khusru. His Hindustani or Hindvī later bifurcated into two channels of Hindi and Urdu. This was the position in Madhya Desa. In the various kingdoms into which the country had been divided consequent upon the invasion of Tīmūr, regional languages like Maithili, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati developed rapidly under the patronage of their kings, and these were enriched by the writings of philosophers and poets. Because of all these factors the fifteenth century became an age of development of regional languages and their literatures.