Indian Army study of Persian in 20th c.

[Ruth Laila Schmidt]

>I have been reading Old Soldier Sahib, by Pvt. Frank Richards of the Royal
>Welsh Fusiliers ([N.Y.] : Harrison Smith and Robert Haas Inc., c 1986), the
>autobiography of a Welsh miner who served as a private in the British Army
>in India from 1900 to 1909.  Several times in the course of the book he
>mentions that privates were offered a bounty for learning both Hindustani
>and Persian.  Hindustani being a lingua franca both for the Army and for
>much of India is of obvious utility, but why would the British  be
>encouraging the study of Persian at this date?  Was it in anticipation of
>another invasion of or from Afghanistan, or a conflict involving Russia in
>Central Asia?  Were they thinking of the utility of talking to locals or to
>prisoners in 'Dari'-speaking parts of Afghanistan, or of using Persian as a
>lingua franca in Central Asia?  Did they think a major conflict with Iran was
>likely?  Why not encourage some other languages like Pushto?  Did they
>assume the Pushto-speakers they were likely to come into significant
>contact with would also know Hindustani?
>
>Allen Thrasher
>
The encouragement of Persian skills along with Hindustani skills was
typical of the 19th century. Could this have been some bureaucratic glitch
- a clause in the jobscope for privates that was just kept on the books
past its expiration date (possibly with an eye on events in Afghanistan)?

Ruth Schmidt


***********************************************
Ruth Laila Schmidt
Dept of East European and Oriental Studies
University of Oslo
P.O. Box 1030 Blindern
N-0315 Oslo, Norway
Phone: (47) 22 85 55 86
Fax: (47) 22 85 41 40
Email: r.l.schmidt at east.uio.no