Rekhta

Rekhta
Spoken in	South Asia
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Central zone Western Hindi Khariboli Rekhta
Writing system	Nastaʿlīq
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	hin-rek
This page contains Indic text. Without rendering support you may see irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. More...

Rekhta (Urdu: ریختہ, Hindi: रेख़्ता rekhtā, Persian: ریخته "poured" or "molded", symbolizing the mixture of Hindi-Urdu, Persian, and Arabic) was the Persianized form of the Khariboli dialect of Hindi now known by the names "Hindustani", "Hindi", and "Urdu", although Rekhta is now almost synonymous with Urdu, as its poetry is still used and made today by Urdu speakers. From the late 17th century till the closing decades of the 18th century, the term was used for the Hindustani language. It was largely supplanted by the name Hindwi / Hindavi and later Hindustani and Urdu, though it continued to be used sporadically until the late 19th century.

The following popular sher by Mirza Galib also tells us that it was a typical form of poetry in northern India in the 19th century.

Rekhte ke tum hi ustaad nahin ho Gaalib (ريختے کے تم ہی استاد نہیں ہو غالب),

Kehte hain agle zamane mein koi Meer bhi tha (کہتے ہیں اگلے زمانے میں كوٸی میر بھی تھا)|

Rekhta was used for forms of poetry like Masnavi, Marsia, Qaseedah, Thumri, Jikri (Zikri), Geet, Chaupaai and Kabit. It is too mysterious that was Rekhta (as a Language) and Rekhta (as a form of poetry) had been used at the same age and same time. Urdu experts believe that Rekhta had so many meanings and it was only used as a kind of language in North India.

See also

• Persian and Urdu
• Hindustani language
• History of the Urdu language
• Urdu poetry