Twilight of the Sultanate c18.s6.6

c18.s6.6

Just as these socio-religious reformers uplifted the social status of the common man, they also helped in the development of the language of the common people throughout the country. Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit were being cultivated in the secluded corridors of Islamic and Hindu institutions. The language of the common man possessed little literature and was hardly studied. Amīr Khusru was perhaps the first national poet who employed Persian metres in Hindī in which he composed many couplets, but by the fifteenth century Hindī got a definite shape at the hands of Sant Kavīs like Kabīr, Raidās, etc. The message of these masters was delivered in simple but beautiful language. Their medium was poetry, mystical and philosophical, sarcastic yet soothing. They preached and composed in Hindī. Therefore, the importance of Sant Kāvya in Hindī language and literature is self-evident. Besides Sūfī poets like Qutban, Manjhan and Jaisī (and the great Bhakta poet Tulsī Dās in the sixteenth century) also greatly enriched Hindī literature. Similarly the Vaishnava poets of Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat contributed much to the development of the languages of their regions. In the Punjab, Gurū Nānak gave to the people a new dialect—Gurmukhī.