The Evolution Of Swear Words In Indian Culture And Literature

There are probably no languages in the world that do not contain words of insult and abuse. Language and foul language have evolved simultaneously, one as old as the other. Humans make use of an array of words, symbols, and gestures to express the anger they feel. Animals have their own ways of expressing their vexation. Dogs, for instance, bark or bare their teeth when upset; monkeys screech and display their teeth aggressively. Yet, we avoid talking about the phenomenon of swearing, when it should be clear that merely discussing a topic is not the same as endorsing it.

Swear words have been in circulation since time immemorial, and their presence in Indian society is deep. It is perhaps a measure of their significance that our culture uses them with great relish and to much merriment on auspicious occasions like weddings and festivals. Prof. Chandradev Yadav says regarding them, “Some verbal expressions are harsh and coarse, at times to the point of provoking the hearer to fatal violence. Such acerbic, disagreeable, and unpleasant words are termed abuses. Civilised society forbids their use. Abuses are also called bad language, tongue-lashing, and evil-speaking. They are in truth rude, crude, and dull, but the person deploying such improper and impolite expressions may derive much pleasure from doing so.” Society in general, however, takes a dim view of these words.

To understand the phenomenon of swear words and their formation and development, it may be instructive to study some particular insults in detail. Take the word “shatha”, for example, which means wicked and which is used as an abuse, as evidenced in the “Vidura Niti” of the Mahabharata:

"Kritepratikritinkuryaadvinsitepratihinsitam / Tatradosham na pashyaamishatheshaathyamsamaacharet."

The purport of the above is that one should behave wickedly with a wicked person. Later, Goswami Tulsidas uses the same curse in the Ramacharitamanas:

"Sathasudharahi satsangati pai / Paaras paratakudhaatasuhaai."

The consonant “sh” does not exist in Bhojpuri and Awadhi; there is only the soft “s” in them. Hence, we find in these languages the word “satha” instead of “shatha” with the same meaning of wicked or evil. Swear words do not always retain their “original” meaning when travelling across languages; sometimes, the meanings change entirely. Now take the word “saath”, which is similar in sound to the aforementioned “satha”. It is not an pejorative word, but conjoined with the suffix “iya”, it becomes “sathiyaa”, which generally means mad or demented. When a person does something unexpected or out of the ordinary, they are met with the question “Sathiyaa gaye ho kya?” (“Have you gone mad?) We may venture an intelligent guess at the backstory of this expression. In precolonial India, there was no strict upper limit on the age for working; a person carried on their duties as long as they were capable. Under the British dispensation, educated Indians joined the colonial bureaucracy, army, etc. as per their qualifications, and as per the British practice, retired at sixty. This was a novel phenomenon to the Indians, who learnt that after sixty years of age, even if one appears to be in a fine fettle outwardly, one is not capable of working. This was interpreted to indicate a reduced capacity of the brain. The word “sathiyaa” quite likely had its origin in this practice.

In our society, especially in the Hindi belt, there is a word that is used openly and widely by people of all age groups, girls included: it is the word “chutiyaa”, which is an obscenity. It is derived from either the word “chyut” which means to remove, to drop, or to displace – “padchyut” is formed using this same term – or from “chut” which denotes the female genitals. Most people believe the origin to be the latter rather than the former. In general usage,  “chutiyaa” simply means a fool, but it may also be considered synonymous with the oath “bhosri ke”, because their literal meaning is the same.

India has been a melting pot of various languages, dialects, religions, cultures, and so on. This fact is also reflected in the wide variety of curses found here. The words “haraami”, “haraamzaada”, and “haramzaada” seem to be similar to each other but they carry slightly different meanings from one another. “Haraami” is used to refer to a person of unknown parentage, i.e., a person who is abandoned by their parents at birth. Occasionally, the term is extended to orphans whose parents’ identities may be well known. “Haraamzaada” is used to denigrate a person whose mother is known but the father is not, or whose father, though known, does not regard them as a legitimate offspring. This category usually includes the sons of prostitutes. Lastly, “haramzaada” means one who is born in or of a harem. Analogous to the ranivaas of the Hindu kings, the harems of Muslim rulers housed the kings’ minor queens and concubines. The children of the harems mostly took up assorted tasks related to the palace. In the past, “haramzaada” was not thought to be particularly offensive, but it is now a dirty abuse. There are many such words which were once considered neutral, but which have attained the status of expletives in the present.

Insults and profanities may be a subject of study for sociologists, but as words, they are used extensively in literature, which is described as a mirror of society, reflecting all its customs and ideas. The history of curses is almost as old as that of spoken language. The practice of swearing can be seen across countries, societies, and literatures of the world, although one may find differences in abuses due to the differences obtaining among societies and social conditions. It is quite fascinating to learn how swear words made their way into dialects and languages. We may not agree with this, but owing to the kind of abusive language prevalent in India, it is deemed to occupy a lowly place among the societies of the world. One of the biggest factors behind the breadth and extremity of the curses found here is the division of our society into castes. We get to see and hear an almost miraculous use of idioms and proverbs in the literature and the language of our people. Often in conversation, there is a spontaneous and organic use of expressions, which connote serious insults not directly and literally, but in the form of metaphors, satire, and abstraction. Interestingly, these expressions are in most instances completely normalised. Our literature and everyday language is rife with such expressions. Several proverbs and idioms target particular castes, e.g., “Kahaan Raja Bhoj, kahaan Gangu Teli” (There cannot be a comparison between King Bhoj and Gangu from the oil-pressing caste), and “Sau sunaar ki, ek luhaar ki” (A single blow of the blacksmith equals a hundred blows of the goldsmith).

In most other countries, a majority of the abuses are based on animals and their perceived characteristics, but in India, along with animals, abuses have been created on the basis of gender, caste, occupation, and so on. Abuses are used by people to convey anger and jokes, or to make a point, in a witty fashion. 

The use of swear words has always been common in society, but earlier writers avoided depicting it in their writing. In Indian society, abuses target a person's strengths and weaknesses, caste, religion, gender, colour, etc. Since swearing is widespread in our society, and since the reality of society is reflected in literature, swear words find a natural presence in our fiction. Insults are spoken or sung on the occasion of various festivals, weddings, etc., and this too appears in literature according to the context. The depiction of swearing in literature is not deliberate; it happens spontaneously as part of the natural medium of expression. This imparts a liveliness to the language of fiction and saves it from being artificial. However, compared to male writers, female writers make far less use of expletives in their depiction of provincial and realist subjects.

Swear words have a class character too. The curses uttered by an individual are specific to the class to which he or she belongs. Equally, curses are meant to insult, hurt, or challenge the manliness of the person being addressed. Sometimes, they work overtly as a neutral, non-offensive medium of expression, but at a subtler level, they also serve to limit the addressee’s manliness in an implicit manner. Swearing has become an integral part of society and has made deep inroads into our literature as well, but this does not mean that in the absence of it, there will be a serious depletion of the sensitivity and expressiveness of language. Abuses reflect the reality of a particular society, community, and region. They are generated due to the processes of loss of meaning, expansion of meaning, and continuous development of words. “Paaji” is used by us today as an imprecation. The word entered India during the Sultanate period, when it was used for the army. The Indians, subjected to oppression, exploitation, and loot by the invading army, came to associate a negative connotation to “paaji” and today the term is generally used to mean a scoundrel.

It is often very difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of abuses. Additionally, their meanings undergo changes from time to time. One and the same word may be used neutrally in one language or dialect, and as a curse in another. Abuses are also found in the religious texts of our country such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Ramacharitamanas. Abuses are a powerful and potent medium of expressing feelings. For this reason alone, even an unwilling writer may sometimes find themselves compelled to use abusive language in their creation. Swear words are also used during auspicious wedding ceremonies, etc., as mentioned earlier. Munshi Premchand was of the view that the use of curses was wrong in both society and literature. He believed that “the use of foul language was to be avoided in society and this is appropriate because the language and expression of a person is their first introduction.” The practice of swearing has become a part of our language and society over a long period of time, so any attempt to eradicate it will also naturally take long, but we must make efforts in that direction. Such a stand is far from being uncontroversial, however. There are differences of opinion over the use of abuses in Hindi fiction. Some people believe that it makes literature vulgar and demeaning, while some others believe that it renders literature more realistic and effective. The curses in a language are often words that are offensive and objectionable. They are used to attack a person's personal qualities, family, or religion. They are also often used to express anger, frustration, or hatred. They can humiliate a person, or they can be used to create a specific wider environment or conditions.

Thus, abuses are deployed as a means to denigrate and disdain a person. They are used to harass someone on racial and sexual grounds. Abuses are also a common medium of expression. An individual who is very upset may express their anger by resorting to abuses. This may help them let off steam and find temporary relief. In the end, it would not be wrong to say that abuses are used rampantly in our society and that they tarnish our society. In any civilised and educated society, such words should be avoided. The role of quality literature in the creation of a better society is undeniable and language makes a critical contribution to the process as well.

(Dr. Govind Verma has been a researcher of Hindi fiction literature and after working as a guest lecturer in various colleges of Delhi University, he is currently working as a language specialist in Google.)

(Translated by Kaushika Draavid)