Was Shivaji behind India’s first vernacular dictionary?

Professor Abdus Sattar Dalvi 86 the founding head of the Urdu department at Mumbai University was recently honoured with the Dr Asghar Ali Engineer Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award At the felicitation held at the University he discussed a unique 17th century linguistic effort that connects Maratha warrior Shivaji Bhosle with Urdu and PersianAt his Bandra Reclamation residence Dalvi shows us a book with brown damp edges ldquoThisrdquo he says his eyes dancing behind the spectacles ldquois the first ever glossary of UrduPersian words compiled on Shivaji Maharajrsquos instructionsrdquoItrsquos of particular interest to Dalvi give his fivedecade long illustrious career in UrduThe glossary titled Rajyavyavhar Kosh contains administrative terminology was put together between 1675 and 76 A special committee headed by scholar Raghunath Pandit undertook the task ldquoThe official language for communication at the time was still Persian and the language of the common folk was Deccani Urdu which was referred to as Hindustanirdquo he explainsDalvi owns a copy of the second print edition of Rajyavyavhar Kosh the first ever glossary of UrduPersian words compiled on Shivaji Maharajrsquos instruction in the 17th centuryWhat makes the title unique is that itrsquos the earliest and first glossary of its kind in any Indian language ldquoOnly after this was published did the tradition of printing dictionaries and glossaries in Indian languages take offrdquo Dalvi claimsOther than being an academic work itrsquos also a glimpse into the social fabric of the time Dalvi thinks that had it not been for this glossary the way of life of the people who occupied the Maratha region at the time the language they spoke and how the courts functioned would have been lost on us ldquoIt has 10 chapters each one touches a different aspect of life during Shivajirsquos reign Life in the court the various regions in the estate details about government departments and hierarchical terminology that was in the army and navy all find their way in here Marathi versions of these UrduPersian terms have then been propagatedrdquoWhile some scholars believe that it was an effort at Sanskritisation a way to replace Persian words then common in state correspondence with Marathi terms some see it as a way to gain access to policy information using language Incidentally in the introduction to the glossary the compilers have referred to Urdu and Persian as Yavani bhasha or the language of Muslims Yavans or foreignersWhile Dalvi owns a second edition copy and a more recent version of it from 1976 edited by Dr Chidambar Kulkarni who was then a reader at Mumbai Universityrsquos history department the first edition was printed in Pune in 1802 and has been preserved at the Maharashtra State Archives ldquoThe shabdkosh would have been in manuscript form prior to thisrdquo he observes A detailed study of the dictionary is on the octogenarianrsquos agenda although he has already begun jotting down notes ldquoThe word kitvi which is a Deccani Urdu word for a small bird found near water bodies finds a mention in the dictionary Then there is nao and kashti meaning boat jahaaz for ship tokra for basket kutubnuma for compass sangtarash for stone carver imarat for building The document is rich with cultural cues of life as it was lived at the time adding to its valuerdquo he saysAuthor Vaibhav Purandare in his justreleased biography on the warrior king says Shivajirsquos attempt to imbibe Sanskrit officially began early He even chose it as the language of his official seal ldquoThis was a direct departure from the wellestablished norm of the Persianate Age his father Shahaji mother Jijabai and Shahajirsquos agent Dadoji all had their seals in Persian as did the other Hindu chieftains of the various Muslim kingdoms Shivaji seemed to have made a conscious choice and the language of the seal is the first unmistakable evidence of the Hindu element in Shivajirsquos political philosophyrdquo Purandare writesDalvi thinks itrsquos only natural that a ruler propagate that which is considered their lsquoownrsquo ldquoThe Mughals did so with Persian and the Nizams of Hyderabad did it with Urdu Naturally the glossary and all other steps that Shivaji took were a means of expanding his power and one of them was by establishing Marathi and Sanskrit as official languagesrdquoWhile the debate on whether he was a secular nationalist or Hindutva icon is ongoing Dalvi believes he was certainly a broadminded leader who did not believe in using religion to divide ldquoSeveral members of his army and navy were Muslims including Siddhi Bilal and Siddhi Ibrahim All rulers have the same thirst for expansion and power and Shivaji was no different but he was respectful of all his subjectsrdquo he argues Dalvi who is credited with translating important Hindi Marathi and English works into Urdu including the classic Marathi poem Manache Shlok by saint poet Ramdas and saint poet Dnyaneshwarrsquos Pasayadan is also the recipient of the Sahitya Akademirsquos Translation Prize of 1990 for translating Ranangan by Vishram BedekarBefore we leave Dalvi gets up to find the copy of Marathi Zabaan Par Farsi Ka Asar Itrsquos an 82yearold title by Maulavi Abdul Haq Dalvi recounts an anecdote about the correspondence between Shivaji and Aurangzeb in Persian ldquoIn one of his letters to Aurangzeb Shivaji had said that God does not show mercy only on Muslims but on all humans Khuda rehmatullil Muslimeen nahi balki Khuda rehmatullil aalameen hai he wroterdquo He adds that correspondence took place in Persian and Hindustani at Shivajirsquos court which was also recorded by Venetian writertravellerphysician Niccolao Manucci who was brought in by Shah Jahan to care for his ailing son Dara Shukoh Manucci mentions about his conversation with Shiavji in Persian and Hindustani in his travelogueDeep rootsDalvi explains how Marathi continues to be influenced by Persian and Deccani Urdu The Marathi word akkal comes from the Arabic lsquoaqlrsquo brain or intelligence Itrsquos a word that made its way to Persian and from there to Urdu and Marathi Words like salla and tafsheelvaar have come from Arabic and Persian salah advice and tafseelvaar detailed he says