محمد قلی قطب شاہ کی شاعری کا لسانیاتی مطالعہ

Linguistical Study of Muhammad Quli Qutab Shah’s Poetry

Abstract

Muhammad Quli Qutab Shah was the first Urdu poet who composed his poetry book in the form of Diwan (A poetry book in which odes are composed in alphabetical order). He was a prominent figure of the late sixteenth century and is considered one of the pioneers of Urdu poetry in the Deccan region. His contribution to Urdu literature is particularly notable for introducing a structured and literary format that had, until then, been associated primarily with Persian poets. Inspired by the classical Persian tradition, he adopted the alphabetical arrangement of odes, which was a novel and innovative step in Urdu literary history. According to Dr. Mahayuddin Qadri Zore, Muhammad Quli Qutab Shah’s Diwan contains nearly 50,000 verses, showcasing his prolific poetic output and linguistic mastery. The language used by Qutab Shah is known as Dakani Urdu, a historical dialect that predates modern standard Urdu by several centuries. Being more than 400 years old, this variant of Urdu is significantly different from contemporary usage in terms of phonetics, morphology, syntax, and semantics. A detailed linguistic analysis of his work reveals that his vocabulary consists primarily of three distinct categories: (1) words derived from Sanskrit, (2) Arabic and Persian vocabulary, and (3) compound expressions formed through the fusion of Arabic and Persian elements with local Indian dialects. This unique linguistic synthesis reflects the rich multicultural environment of the Deccan Sultanate and highlights Muhammad Quli’s poetic ingenuity. This article aims to explore and underline the distinctive linguistic features of Muhammad Quli Qutab Shah’s language. By examining his poetic diction, structural innovations, and linguistic diversity, the study attempts to place his work within the broader historical context of Urdu’s evolution and literary formation.