Just as the use of Arabic, Persian and Turkic words in Hindi lends gravity to a piece of writing, mixing Sanskrit (tatsama) words into Odia raises the standing of the writing. The root of this difference lies in the distinct historical backgrounds, political influences and literary evolution of the two languages. North India lived under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire for centuries. For that long period Persian was the official language of governance, law and administration. Persian itself contained Arabic and Turkic words. Those words therefore entered Hindi through Persian, and these foreign words became symbols of power, of the elite class and of gravitas.
Persian and Arabic words were used abundantly in Urdu and Hindustani poetry, in the ghazal and in Sufi literature. For this reason, even today, using these words in Hindi writing creates a distinct poetic appeal, refinement and weight.
Odia, however, is an ancient Aryan language, not a recent one like Hindi. From Prakrit to Udra-Prakrit, from Udra-Prakrit to the Udra language, and finally to the Odia language, this language has endured for some 5000 to 3000 years. When North Indians were bowing in defeat before foreign powers, Odisha was independent. Because Odisha remained protected for 600 years from foreign, sectarian invaders, the influence of the foreign language Persian did not fall upon "Odia", the ancient and principal language of this soil, as it did upon Hindi. The influence of Persian appeared only briefly after the sixteenth century, so only a few Persian-origin words, such as some court terms and words like ojana (weight), kam (less) and badaliba (to change), came into use in Odia. Compared to Hindi, this was very little. On the other hand, since there was no foreign-language influence, the influence of Sanskrit in Odisha lasted until the eighteenth century. As a result, in ancient Odia literature, and especially in the "Riti Yuga," poets used many complex Sanskrit words and figures of speech to display their intellect and poetic mastery. Since Sanskrit was the original language of Hindu scriptures and spirituality, these tatsama words were regarded as sacred, classical and exalted.
Consequently, the more Sanskrit words are used in Odia today, the more beautiful the language sounds; and in Hindi, no matter how many words from Arabic, Persian, Turkic, English and other foreign languages are mixed in, it does not sound awkward to the ear. Conversely, if modern Hindi is written with a heavy load of tatsama words, it is not pleasant to read or hear. It feels as if a fair-skinned foreign woman were wearing the attire of an Indian woman.
In modern sociolinguistics and historical linguistics, this situation is called "Prestige Borrowing" and "Lexical Stratification for Prestige." When a particular ruling class, a conquering group or a class with an intellectual monopoly uses a particular language, the words of that language become the standard of power, education and administration. Linguists call this process the High Register. While ordinary people use local and simple words in everyday conversation, they prefer to use the words of that prestigious foreign or ancient classical language in literature, law, religion and governance. In Odisha, because the influence of Sanatana Dharma, of pandits and of the Sanatana tradition lasted a long time, Sanskrit was the supreme language of power and knowledge. Therefore the mixing of Sanskrit into Odia feels natural and dignified. In North India, by contrast, because of the imperial dominance of Islamic royal power and the Persian court during Sultanate and Mughal rule, the prestige of Hindi came to be defined through Persian and Arabic words. Because of this historical process, what feels natural in one language seems artificial or awkward in another.
The biggest and most authentic example of this "Prestige Borrowing" in world history is the English language. After the French conquered England through the Norman invasion in the eleventh century, French and Latin remained for three hundred years the languages of the English royal court, law and nobility. As a result, in English today, ordinary conversation is in the original Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) words, but when legal, scientific or literary writing is produced, the use of French and Latin words is what adds weight to it. For example, what is "ask" in ordinary English becomes "inquire," of Latin origin, in elevated English; while common people call the animal a "cow," when it is served at the royal dining table it becomes "beef," through French influence. Similarly, although the spoken forms and the grammar of Japanese and Korean in East Asia are entirely distinct, because China was for a long time the cultural and intellectual center of that region, even today words of ancient Chinese origin used in Japanese and Korean at the scientific, philosophical and administrative levels are regarded as more dignified. Another example is the Turkish language. Although the basic structure of Turkish is Central Asian, during the Ottoman Empire it was stuffed with Arabic and Persian words to such an extent, in order to bring Islamic philosophy and administrative gravity into it, that it became difficult for ordinary Turks to read their own literature.
If we study the evolutionary history of humankind a little more deeply, we will understand that language is not merely a medium of communication; rather, it is the greatest and most successful fiction created by Homo sapiens. When this Homo sapiens species, which once hunted in the forests of Africa, gathered millions of people together and founded great empires, civilizations and religions, an invisible power structure became necessary to discipline so large a society. Who is king and who is subject, who is learned and who is ignorant: to imprint this distinction on the human mind as an eternal truth, the vocabulary of a language became the supreme weapon. Humanists say that no word, whether Sanskrit, Persian or Latin, is great or sacred because of any natural quality of its own. Rather, we humans, in order to fulfil our political and historical needs, have assigned these particular sounds the value of power and nobility, and have given them the shape of reality through mutual belief. But linguists know that when countless foreign words mix into a language, that language drifts away from its original linguistic source and, abandoning its own native qualities, takes on many foreign qualities from other languages. Because of the excess of Arabic, Persian and Turkic words in Hindi, that language has lost its classical character and has turned into a mixed, hybrid, grotesque language. By contrast, because Sanskrit words have mixed into Odia, many qualities rooted in the Aryan languages, from gemination of consonants and the rules of ṣatva-vidhi to the inherent "a" (akārānta) pronunciation, survive firmly in Odia even today. When words of kindred origin mix in, a language becomes classical; and when words of non-kindred origin mix in excessively, a language becomes corrupted.
A clear proof of this classicality and linguistic purity is recorded in ancient Indian texts. In the distinguished lexicon Śabdakalpadruma, in explaining the word "bhāṣā," eighteen classical languages of India are mentioned on the basis of the Prākṛta-Laṅkeśvara grammar. That list is: "Saṃskṛtam, Prākṛtā, Udīcī, Mahārāṣṭrī, Māgadhī, Miśrārdhamāgadhī, Śakābhīrī, Śravantī, Drāviḍī, Oḍrīyā, Pāścātyā, Prācyā, Bāhlīkā, Rantikā, Dākṣiṇātyā, Paiśācī, Āvantī, Śaurasenī." Among these eighteen classical languages, "Odrīyā," or Odia, which stands in tenth place, was not an ordinary dialect; rather, it was a dignified and recognized ancient Aryan language. Therefore its exchange with Sanskrit was entirely natural, and because the two are of kindred origin, a sweet harmony has persisted in the basic structure of both languages.
The best illustration of what modern sociolinguistics calls "Prestige Borrowing" (Lexical Stratification for Prestige) is also evident from the sixth chapter of the Sāhitya Darpaṇa, cited in this Śabdakalpadruma. In ancient times, who would speak which language in society and in drama and so on depended on their social standing and intellectual level. The text states:
"Puruṣāṇām anīcānāṃ saṃskṛtaṃ syāt kṛtātmanām;
Śaurasenī prayoktavyā tādṛśīvāñca yoṣitām."
That is, men of the upper class, who are educated and noble, should use the Sanskrit language, and women of that same rank should use Śaurasenī Prakrit. Similarly, while there were rules prescribing Ardhamāgadhī for princes and merchants, for women of the highest class and for princesses the use of Sanskrit in certain situations ("Saṃskṛtaṃ saṃprayoktavyaṃ liṅginīṣūttamāsu ca") was directed. On the other hand, for servants, for caṇḍālas, or for the Śabaras who depended on wood and leaves in the forest, languages such as Paiśācī, Śābarī or Māgadhī were prescribed. From this arrangement it is proved that in India, from time immemorial, the Sanskrit language has remained the supreme symbol of high intellectuality, administrative power and nobility. Therefore, when the Odia language takes vocabulary from Sanskrit, it is not merely a historical process but a natural effort to strengthen its own ancient classical foundation.
While the North Indian languages, under the influence of long foreign rule, adopted non-kindred words like Arabic, Persian and Turkic and lost their Aryan character, Odisha's independence and cultural devotion have been able to protect the Odia language from a mixed condition. The use of Sanskrit tatsama words never makes Odia writing artificial; rather, it increases the gravity of the writing and bestows upon the language a deep dignity, sanctity and timeless poetic beauty. In this unbroken stream of linguistics and history, this classical inheritance of the Odia language is its greatest self-respect.
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