Dakhni

Dakhni, also spelled Dakkhani or Deccani, is a form of Hindustani spoken primarily in the Deccan region of South Asia. It is commonly described as a regional variant of Urdu, though some linguists treat it as a distinct language with its own literary and cultural identity. The core speech community centers on Hyderabad and the surrounding areas in present-day Telangana, with continued use in parts of Karnataka and western Maharashtra. Hyderabadi Urdu is the best-known variety of Dakhni and functions as a regional norm in daily speech and media.

Historically, Dakhni emerged as a lingua franca in the Deccan under the Bahmani and subsequent Deccan sultanates, roughly from the 14th to the 17th centuries. It developed through contact between Persian-speaking administrators and speakers of local languages such as Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu. Over time, Dakhni incorporated a substantial amount of loanwords from Persian, Arabic, and Turkish, alongside local Dravidian vocabulary, giving it a distinctive lexical profile while retaining core Hindustani grammar and syntax.

The language is typically written in the Urdu script (a Perso-Arabic orthography), though Deccani literature and historical usage have also appeared in other scripts. Dakhni features a blended phonology and lexicon that reflect its multilingual milieu, and it has a rich oral and literary tradition, especially in courtly poetry, folk expression, and popular culture.

In contemporary contexts, Dakhni is often regarded as a regional variety or dialect of Urdu/Hindustani. It remains an important marker of local identity in the Deccan, used in everyday speech, theatre, music, and media, while continuing to be studied within broader discussions of Urdu and Hindustani languages.