The Urdu–Hindi Controversy of 1867: Seeds of Partition
The Urdu–Hindi Controversy of 1867: Seeds of Partition Introduction Language is never neutral; it embodies culture, identity, and power. In colonial India, the Urdu–Hindi Controversy of 1867 became more than a debate over scripts—it crystallized communal identities and sowed the seeds of political division. As historian Paul Brass observes, “language conflicts in India were not merely linguistic but deeply political, shaping the contours of nationalism and communalism” (Brass, Language, Religion and Politics in North India , 1974). This controversy, centered in Benares (Varanasi), marked a turning point in Muslim–Hindu relations and laid intellectual foundations for the Two‑Nation Theory . The Backdrop Before the nineteenth century, Persian was the official language of administration and courts under Mughal rule. In 1837, the British East India Company replaced Persian with Urdu in the Persian script as the official language of the North‑Western Provinces (King, One La...