“Urdu” first referred to the “royal city” of Delhi, and was not aligned with any language until 1780; meanwhile the language of the Delhi area was being called Hindvi or Hindµ and later, Rekhta. British intervention into this controversy only further obscured the issue by introducing the names Moors and Hindustani into the mix, and, moreover, began to identify Hindustani as a Muslim language and Hindvi as a Hindu language.
These alliances were only deepened by the post-1857 Hindi/Urdu controversy headed by Bharatendu Harishchandra, and the development of Hindµ and Urdu canons at Fort William College and in Azad and Hali's works.
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