Origin of Urdu Literature

Urdu literature originated back to the 13^th century in Asia during the time period of Mughal emperors. Especially poets played a tremendous role for the Urdu literature. Amir Khusro was the very earliest poet who used Urdu in his poetry. In that period people used Urdu alongside Persian. In the Mughal rules Urdu got glory and it reached to its peak, because they were the master of Art and literature. Mughal kings used to arrange 'Sheri Mehfils' (poetic gatherings) frequently in their courts and emperors, kings and other people took deep interest in such gatherings and in their poetry. It was their tradition. Lots of famous poets have passed in that time period but Abul Fazal Faizi and Abdul Rahim Khankhana were the famous Urdu poets of Mughal courts. After that many other famous Urdu poets Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal, Hakim Momin, Ibrahim Zauq, Mir Taqi Mir, Sauda, Ibn-e-Insha and Faiz Ahmed Faiz did apparent literary work for the growth of Urdu literature. 

Both Hindi and Urdu language have closed relation but the literature is different and both differ through many reasons. Hindi language inherited its origin from Sanskrit. It adopted Devanagri script and writing style, while Urdu language absorbed mixture of Persian, Turkish and Arabic languages. It adopted Nastaliq calligraphic writing style. Due to this it became a separate language. Both languages have common heritage but there are grammatical, phonological and lexical differences also.

Urdu language flourished more because Muslim thought it as a symbol of Unity. They used Urdu as a tool during the independence struggle from the British in Asia. They wanted to gather all the Muslims under the banner of independence and as a unity of Muslims and Urdu speakers. Maulana Hali, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan provided great services through their poetry and prose to promote Urdu language. They saved Urdu literature by establishing the Urdu libraries, schools, colleges and Universities. Now majority of population in Pakistan understood and speak, Urdu as a national language.