A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c4.77

v1.c4.77

¹ For many generations after the victories of Kutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Musulman sovereign of Delhi, the conquerors retained their own Persian, and the conquered their Hindi. Mr. Blochmann, whose knowledge of the Muhammadan court of Delhi is singularly extensive and accurate, is of opinion that Hindi did not begin to be impregnated with Persian words, and the Urdu language consequently did not begin to be formed, till the sixteenth century—see "The Hindu Rajas under the Mughals," *Calcutta Review*, April, 1871. The Musulmans had long been accustomed to speak pure Hindi, and it was not they who introduced Persian words into the language, but the Hindus themselves, who, at the epoch above mentioned, were compelled by Todar Mal's new revenue system to learn Persian.