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Deccani (, दखनी dakhanī or , दकनी dakanī;
also known as Deccani Urdu, Deccani Hindi,The Deccani language has an Indo-Aryan core vocabulary, though it incorporated loanwords from Persian language, which was the official language of the Deccan Sultanates. Additionally, Deccani differs from northern Hindustani sociolects due to archaisms retained from the medieval India, as well as a convergence with and loanwords from the Deccan's regional languages like Telugu language, Tamil language, Kannada, Marathi language spoken in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and some parts of Maharashtra. Deccani has been increasingly influenced by Standard Urdu, especially noticed in Hyderabadi Urdu, which serves as its formal register. In the modern era, it has mostly survived as a spoken lect and is not a literary language.
There are three primary dialects of Deccani spoken today: Hyderabadi Urdu,
Mysore Urdu, and Madrasi Urdu. Hyderabadi Urdu is the closest of these dialects to Standard Urdu and the most spoken.The term "Deccani" and its variants are often used in two different contexts: a historical, obsolete one, referring to the medieval-era literary predecessor of Hindi-Urdu; and an oral one, referring to the Urdu dialects spoken in many areas of the Deccan today. Both contexts have intricate historical ties.
The Bahmani Sultanate was formed in 1347 AD with Daulatabad as its capital. This was later moved to Gulbarga and once again, in 1430, to Bidar. By this time, the dialect had acquired the name Dakhni, from the name of the region itself, and had become a lingua franca for the linguistically diverse people of the region, primarily where the Muslims had settled permanently. The Bahmanids greatly promoted Persian, and did not show any notable patronage for Deccani. However, their 150-year rule saw the burgeoning of a local Deccani literary culture outside the court, as religious texts were made in the language. The Sufism in the region (such as Shah Miranji) were an important vehicle of Deccani; they used it in their preachings since regional languages were more accessible (than Persian) to the general population. This era also saw production of the masnavi Kadam Rao Padam Rao by Fakhruddin Nizami in the region around Bidar. It is the earliest available manuscript of the Hindavi/Dehlavi/Deccani language, and contains loanwords from local languages such as Telugu and Marathi. Digby suggests that it was not produced in courtly settings.
The rulers themselves participated in these cultural developments. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of the Golconda Sultanate wrote poetry in Deccani, which was compiled into a Kulliyyat. It is widely considered to be the earliest Urdu poetry of a secular nature. Ibrahim Adil Shah II of the Bijapur Sultanate produced Kitab-e-Navras (Book of the Nine Rasas), a work of musical poetry written entirely in Deccani. The mathnawi Pem Nem was also compiled during his reign.
Although the poets of this era were well-versed in Persian, they were characterised by a preference for indigenous cultures, and a drive to stay independent of esoteric language. As a result, the language they cultivated emphasised the roots of Deccani without overshadowing it, and borrowed from neighbouring languages (especially Marathi; Matthews states that Dravidian influence was much less). In this regard, Shaheen and Shahid note that literary Deccani has historically been very close to spoken Deccani, unlike the northern tradition that has always exhibited diglossia. Poet San'ati is a particular example of such conscious efforts to retain simplicity:
As the language of court and culture, Persian nevertheless served as the model for poetic forms, and a good amount of Persian and Arabic vocabulary was present in the works of these writers. Hence Deccani attempted to strike a balance between Indian and Persian influences, though it did always retain mutual intelligibility with the northern Dehlavi. This contributed to the cultivation of a distinct Deccani identity, separate from the rulers from the north; many poets proudly extolled the Deccan region and its culture.
Hence, Deccani experienced cultivation into a literary language under the Sultanates, alongside its usage as a common vernacular. It also continued to be used by saints and Sufis for preaching. However, the Sultanates did not use Deccani for official purposes, preferring the prestige language Persian as well as regional languages like Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu.
The literary centres of the Deccan had been replaced by the capital of the Mughals, so poets migrated to Delhi for better opportunities. A notable example is that of Wali Deccani (1667–1707), who adapted his Deccani sensibilities to the northern style and produced a divan in this variety. His work inspired the Persianate poets of the north to compose in the local dialect, which in their hands became an intermediate predecessor of Hindustani known as Rekhta. This accelerated the downfall of Deccani literature, as Rekhta came to dominate the competing dialects of Mughal Hindustan.
The advent of the Asaf Jahis slowed this down, but despite their patronage of regional culture, Deccani Urdu's literary tradition died. However, the spoken variety has lived on in the Deccani Muslims, retaining some of its historical features and continuing to be influenced by the neighbouring Dravidian languages.
| + !Deccani !Standard Urdu equivalent !Notes | ||
| mai, tu (southern dialects) | mẽ, tum | First and second person singular pronouns |
| hame, tume (southern dialects) | ham, āp | First and second person plural pronouns |
| kane, kan | pās | Possessive marker |
| un, in, une, ine | us, is | Third person singular pronouns |
| uno, uno logã, unõ | un, un lōg, woh log | Third person plural pronouns |
| "sabaan"(southern dialects) | "kal" | For the word "tomorrow", northern dialects use the same word as Standard Urdu |
| mer(e)kū, ter(e)kū (northern dialects) | mujhe, tujhe | First and second person possessive pronouns often used with postpositions ( mera + ku, tera + ku) |
| suffix - ã ãː ( logã, mardã) | - õ, - ẽ | Plural marker |
| ap(p)an | āp lōg | Third person plural pronoun, often used in first person as well |
| suffix - ich it͡ʃʰ ( mai idharich hũ) | hī ( mẽ idhar hī hũ) | Emphasis marker, Matthews comments that this is "probably from Marathi" |
| kaiku, ki | kyũ | 'why' |
| po (southern dialects) | par, pē | 'on' or 'at' (postposition) |
| suffix - ĩgā ( kal jaĩgā, ab karĩgā) | - ẽge ( kal jāyẽge, ab karẽge) | Plural future tense marker |
| sangāt | ke sātʰ | 'with', both are used in Deccani |
| nakko | mat/na (imperative), nahĩ cāhiye (first person negative) | From Marathi |
| kate | lagta hē | 'it seems' or 'apparently' |
| sō | sō | Common to Deccani and Urdu but largely restricted to classic literature and rarely used in the standard spoken registers of the latter Still commonly used in Deccani, roughly meaning 'that', 'which', or 'hence' |
| suffix - ko ( jāko, dʰōko, āko) | suffix - kē or - kar ( jākē/jākar, dʰōkē/dʰōkar/, ākē/ākar) | Conjunctive participle, all three are used in Deccani |
| kh () x/χ | () q | Deccani speakers have fully merged q with kh |
| ai aɪ, au aʊ (southern dialects) | ai ɛː, au ɔː | Southern dialects of Deccani preserve diphthongs where northern dialects and standard Urdu have shifted to open-mid vowels |
These features are used to different degrees among speakers, as there tends to be regional variation. Mustafa names some varieties of Deccani as "Telugu Dakkhni, Kannada Dakkhni, and Tamil Dakkhni", based on their influence from the dominant Dravidian language in the spoken region. He further divides Telugu Deccani into two linguistic categories, corresponding to Andhra Pradesh, which he says has more Telugu influence; and Telangana, with more influence from standard Urdu. The latter is seen especially in Hyderabad.
Deccani's use of Urdu as a standard register, and contact with Hindustani (widespread in India), has led to some of its distinctive features disappearing.
Additionally, the Deccani film industry (also called Dollywood) is based in Hyderabad and produces movies in Deccani, especially the Hyderabadi dialect.
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