Hindustani Language

Lingua franca of modern India before partition (1947). Based on Khari Boli, a dialect originating in the area around Delhi, Meerut, and Saharanpur, it was spread throughout India by the Mughals and merchants. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the language was strongly promoted by an Englishman, John Borthwick Gilchrist (1759–1841), who wrote a Hindustani dictionary and a number of