The Muslims introduced their own languages especially Arabic and Persian, into India. Indian literature, especially in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil, was also flourishing at the time. As a result of continuous intermingling of both the cultures, Hindu and Muslim, Indian literature, art and architecture underwent a great change. The court language of Muslims was Persian. Considerable emphasis was laid on history writing in Persian language. The great historian Minhas-us-Siraj wrote his famous Tabaqat-i- Nasiri.

The other most important poets were Amir Khusrau and Mir Hansan Dihlawi. Khajain-ul-Futuh and Thughug Nama of Amir Khusrau, Tarikh-i-Firoze Shahi of Ziauddin Barani and Futuhus Salatin of Khwaja Malik Isami are the famous historical works of the period. Prithiviraj Raso by Chand Bardoi was also an important writing in Hindi. The greatest among the poets and writers of the Muslim period was Amir Khusrau, who used Hindi words and wrote on Indian themes.

The most significant development of the medieval period in India was the birth of a new language called Urdu. It was the result of the interaction between the Hindus and the Muslims. The common language of the people of India was Hindi. Under the Delhi Sultans Persian was the court language. By continuous intermingling of these two languages a mixed language came into being. It was originally called- Zaban-i-Hindavi or the language of the Indians or Urdu. Urdu and Hindi are almost identical; the only difference is the script. Persian script was used for writing Urdu.

This common language of the Hindus and Muslims did not receive the patronage of Delhi Sultans. However the Sultans of Bijapur and Golkunda in the South encouraged it. Urdu rose to prominence during the early part of British rule in India and the British raised it to the status of a court language.