Urdu as the Language of Employment in Court and Office in British India

Abstract

Urdu became a language of lower-level employment during British rule in India and occupies that position in present-day Pakistan and, to a limited extent, in India as well. This article focuses on how this phenomenon occurred in the present-day Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab. Although education, printing and publication, media and entertainment are the biggest domains of employment they have not been considered here as they need separate and detailed treatment. This article, therefore, focuses attention on judicial and administrative employment at the lower levels only. Other domains will however, be touched upon in passing.