1.7 The Decline of Indian Languages Along with inventions of new communication techniques, the colonization of India has also led to the diminution of historic languages of India. While some rulers’ influence brought in new opportunities for the development of literature in India, others led to the undermining of the Sanskrit system. The succession of Islamic rulers: Arabs, Turks and Mughals, indigenously gave rise to new languages such as Urdu, as their native languages (Persian and Arabic) merged with the Indian languages such as Sanskrit and Hindi. This expansion has majorly contributed to (if not caused) the rise of new styles of poetry, music and dance along with calligraphy and art.
Figure 1.7.1 An image of a text written in Urdu
Another colonial impact is caused by the British rule over India. This however, has led to the demoralization of the Indian cultures and traditional languages. Prof. G.N. Devy’s book ‘After Amnesia’ explains that the British rulers felt “it was their historic duty to ‘educate’ India” and ‘civilize’ their ways. The British system divided all knowledge into individual subjects. That was their way of handling the immense amount of information and collective memories that existed in all these centuries. The Indian way of remembering all the information was rather different; the knowledge was complete when many subjects and activities were integrated and coexisted harmoniously. For example, as a child learnt the art of pottery from his/her parents, he/she simultaneously, learnt the types of soil available, each of their properties, the ratios of raw materials mixed together with water, the optimum temperature and time required for the pots to be baked, and also how to construct a small kiln. There is no doubt that British delivered knowledge of great value and made India familiar with many different thoughts and ideas however, it did not encourage the merging of or exchange between Indian and European knowledge. This led to Indian intellectuals being discouraged resulting a decline in the use of Indian languages and the practices of traditional arts. Prof G.N. Devy writes: 28
