Urdu is widely known as the national language /qaumi zabaan where “zabaan” is a fem. noun) of Pakistan, but it is also one of India’s 22 official languages /sarkaari zabaan). Modern Standard Urdu, once commonly known as a variant of Hindustani , a colloquial language combining the modified Sanskrit words found in Hindi with words (lafz, masc. noun, plural: /alfaaz) brought to India via Persian, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish and other languages, is a language with one of the most fascinating and complex histories /taarikh, fem. noun) in the world.