Naming the Unnamed: The Plurality of Dakkhinī Hindī's Appellations and Its Implications for Vernacular Identity in the Deccan (14th–17th Century)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.v11.n04.007Keywords:
Dakkhinī Hindī, appellations, Bahmani Sultanate, Deccan Sultanates, Sufi orders, vernacular identity, sociolinguisticsAbstract
Dakkhinī Hindī was a Khaṛī Bolī-based literary language that developed in the Deccan region of India from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. Throughout its history it was known by seven distinct appellations—hindavī, dehalavī, gujarī, bhākhā, hindī, dakkhinī, and rekhtā. Previous scholarship has generally treated this plurality of names as terminological inconsistency or classificatory disorder among scholars. The present paper reinterprets the phenomenon as the product of multiple communities assigning distinct identities to the same language within the pluralistic historical space of the Deccan. By sequentially analysing four historical phases—the bilingual structure of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1527), the regional fragmentation of the successor sultanates (1490–1580), the proselytic strategies of Sufi orders, and the official institutionalisation under the Quṭb Shāhī golden age (1580–1687)—the paper demonstrates that each appellation was bound to a specific dynasty, community, or social function. Dakkhinī Hindī is thereby redefined not as the product of a single language community but as a multilayered linguistic space formed through the intersection of plural political, religious, and commercial networks. The methodology is a literature review, combining analysis of primary-source usages preserved in Khusro (2004) with historical-source analysis drawing on Sherwani (1953), Eaton (1978, 2005, 2019), and Guha (2004).
References
Notes
[1] For a comprehensive list of Dakkhinī Hindī appellations, see Khusro, P.K.S. 'Dakhini kā Nāmkaraṇ.' In Dakhini Hindi. New Delhi: IGNCA, 2004.
[2] Guha, Sumit. 'Transitions and Translations.' CSSAAME 24.2 (2004); Eaton, R.M. The Sufis of Bijapur. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1978.
[3] Pollock (2006), pp. 430–480; Pollock, 'The Cosmopolitan Vernacular.' JAS 57.1 (1998): 6–37.
[4] On the Persianisation of the Bahmani Sultanate, see Sherwani (1953), pp. 45–78; Eaton (2019).
[5] The hindavī usage by Shāh Asharaf Bayābānī (1503) is cited in Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kā Nāmkaraṇ'. On the Tughluq capital relocation and the linguistic background of the migrant community, see Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kā Vikās'; Eaton (2005), Ch. 2.
[6] On the Dakhanī–Afāqī factional conflict, see Sherwani (1953), pp. 180–210; Eaton (2005), pp. 40–60.
[7] Eaton (2005), p. 52. Firishta chronicle analysis: Sherwani (1953), pp. 180–215.
[8] On the life and language of Bandānawāz (1321–1422), see Eaton (2005), Ch. 2; Eaton (1978), pp. 34–56; Khusro, 'Ādikālīn Kavi'.
[9] On Abdul's dual declaration of hindavī and dehalavī, see Khusro, 'Dakṣiṇ Bhārat meṃ Gaī Dillī kī Hindi kī Ek Śailī'.
[10] On the Dakhanī–Afāqī massacre of 1446, see Sherwani (1953), pp. 200–215.
[11] On the execution of Maḥmūd Gāwān and the dynastic fragmentation, see Eaton (2005), pp. 55–65; Sherwani (1953), pp. 350–380.
[12] On the political implications of hindavī and dehalavī, see Guha (2004), pp. 24–26.
[13] On the independence of the five Deccan sultanates, see Eaton (2019), Ch. 4; Sherwani (1953), pp. 350–400.
[14] On the regionalisation of linguistic appellations in the fragmentation era, see Guha (2004), pp. 25–28.
[15] Jānam's use of the gujarī appellation across three works is cited in Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kā Nāmkaraṇ'.
[16] Eaton (2019), pp. 165–185; analysis of the Gujarat–Deccan exchange network.
[17] Wagoner, P.B. 'Sultan among Hindu Kings.' JAS 55.4 (1996): 851–880; esp. pp. 854–863.
[18] Ernst, C.W. Eternal Garden. Albany: SUNY Press, 1992, pp. 89–130.
[19] Eaton (1978), pp. 155–176; Guha (2004), p. 27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.155.6.176
[20] On the proselytic methods of the Chishtī order, see Ernst (1992), pp. 110–125; Eaton (1978), pp. 56–80.
[21] On Shāh Mīrañjī's linguistic self-naming, see Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kā Nāmkaraṇ'.
[22] Amīr Khusrau's hinduī declaration: cited in Khusro (2004), 'Hindi aur Dakhini Hindi'. The precise work title is not confirmed in the present research notes.
[23] On the use of hindī nomenclature by Mullā Wajhī and Bulbul, see Khusro, 'Hindi kā Pratham Gadya-Kāvya'.
[24] For the inventory of poets using the hindī appellation, see Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kā Nāmkaraṇ'; Alam (2004), pp. 115–140.
[25] On the Dakkhinī literary golden age under the Quṭb Shāhī dynasty, see Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi Sāhitya aur Quṭabśāhī Kāl'.
[26] For the inventory of poets using the dakkhinī appellation and Dhīrendra Varmā's definition, see Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kyā Hai?'.
[27] Guha (2004), pp. 28–30; Tukārām's reference to Dakkhinī.
[28] On the composition of Kitāb-e-Nauras and its Hindu–Islamic juxtaposition, see Eaton (2019), pp. 192–200.
[29] On Mughal expansion and the reinforcement of Deccan identity, see Eaton (2005), Ch. 4; Eaton (2019), pp. 200–230.
[30] Alam (2004), pp. 57–80; the dual strategy of Islamic governance and language policy.
[31] On the rekhtā appellation and the Walī Aurangābādī usage, see Khusro, 'Dakhini Hindi kā Nāmkaraṇ'.
[32] Faruqi, S.R. 'A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture.' In Pollock, ed. Literary Cultures in History. Berkeley: UC Press, 2003, pp. 836–845.
[33] Khusro (2004), 'Dakhini Hindi kī Śabdāvalī: Srot aur Vargīkaraṇ'.
[34] Lexical layer analysis: Khusro (2004), 'Dakhini Hindi kī Kuch Pramukh Viśeṣtāeṃ'; comparisons of pānī/āb, ghara/makān, prem/ishq.
[35] Sankrityayan, R. Dakhini Hindi Kāvyadhārā. 2nd ed. Patna: Bihar Rashtrabhashan Parishad, 1959, p. 5.
[36] Guha (2004), pp. 23–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36576/summa.1228
[37] Pollock (2006), pp. 430–480; Pollock (1998), pp. 6–37.
References
Primary Sources
[1] Khwāja Bandānawāz Gesūdarāz. Chakkinamā; Merājnāmā; Shahpā. In Khusro, Pradeep Kumar Sharma (ed.). Dakhini Hindi. New Delhi: IGNCA, 2004.
[2] Wajhī, Mullā. Sab Ras (1635). Ed. Maulvi Abdul Haq. Hyderabad: Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu, 1932.
Secondary Sources — Hindi
[1] Khusro, Pradeep Kumar Sharma. 'Dakhini kā Nāmkaraṇ.' In Dakhini Hindi. New Delhi: IGNCA, 2004.
[2] Sankrityayan, Rahul. Dakhini Hindi Kāvyadhārā. 2nd ed. Patna: Bihar Rashtrabhashan Parishad, 1959.
[3] Tivārī, Bholānāth. Hindī Bhāṣā. Delhi: Kitāb Mahal, 1955. pp. 234, 241.
[4] Tivārī, Udayanārāyaṇa. Hindī Bhāṣā kā Udgam aur Vikās. Prayag: Bhāratī Bhaṇḍār, 1955.
[5] Sharma, Srirām. Dakhini Hindi kā Udbhav aur Vikās. Hyderabad, 1955.
Secondary Sources — English
[1] Alam, Muzaffar. The Languages of Political Islam: India 1200–1800. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
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[6] Faruqi, Shamsur Rahman. 'A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture, Part 1: Naming and Placing a Literary Culture.' In Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, edited by Sheldon Pollock, 805–863. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
[7] Grierson, George Abraham. Linguistic Survey of India. Vol. 1, Pt. 1. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, 1903. p. 306.
[8] Guha, Sumit. 'Transitions and Translations: Regional Power and Vernacular Identity in the Dakhan, 1500–1800.' Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 24, no. 2 (2004): 23–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-24-2-23
[9] Pollock, Sheldon. 'The Cosmopolitan Vernacular.' The Journal of Asian Studies 57, no. 1 (1998): 6–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2659022
[10] ——. The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
[11] Sherwani, Haroon Khan. The Bahmanis of the Deccan: An Objective Study. Hyderabad: The Manager of Publications, 1953. Repr. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1985.
[12] Wagoner, Phillip B. 'Sultan among Hindu Kings: Dress, Titles, and the Islamicization of Hindu Culture at Vijayanagara.' The Journal of Asian Studies 55, no. 4 (November 1996): 851–880. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2646526
