Hindi language is an important part of our lives. It is the main medium of communication in majority of the Indian households, and world's fourth most-spoken language. Yet, it is slowly fading away from our lives. This Hindi Diwas, We, at Unchainedreamz, wish to throw some light on the history and relevance of this widely spoken language in the contemporary world. Hindi, or the Modern Standard Hindi is a language spoken in large parts of North India. It is the standard register of the Hindustani language, along with Urdu. Written in the Devanagari script, Hindi, along with English, is the official language of the Government of India. History and Origin of Hindi Language Originally, the term Hindi originally was used to refer to inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In Persian, it means "of or belonging to the people of the land near Indus or Sindhu river/Indian people." Majority of the Indians speak a language belonging to the Indo-European language family, with all the Indian languages falling under the Indo-Aryan subgroup. One of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages in India is Vedic Sanskrit, and the Hindi language has evolved from the same. Vedic Sanskrit evolved into Classical Sanskrit around 800 BC, which later developed into Prakrit languages. Around 500 AD, the Apabhramsha dialects evolved from Prakrit in the northern plains, and around the 11th century, more Hindi languages branched off from Apabhramasa. The modern standard Hindi is an amalgamation of the original words derived from Sanskrit and the other loan words taken from different languages like Persian, English, Portuguese and other Indian languages. The Hindi we speak today is a variant of Khari boli, which was the successor of Apabhramasa and most commonly used. Hindi language in the contemporary world On September 14th 1949, th
e Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in the Devanagari script as the official language of India. Hindi has millions of speakers world wide, with everyone morphing it into their own dialect. In some parts of Assam, Haflong Hindi is spoken, and in Arunachal Pradesh too, Hindi is spoken by some locals.
There are Hindi speakers based out of India as well, in places like Kabul and Nepal, and because of immigration, Hindi speakers can be easily found in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Fiji and Mauritius as well.
Hindi is so much more than just a widely spoken language. Bollywood as an industry thrives on this language. There are certain bollywood movies, which chiefly employ Hindi language, which made an impact on our society and received accolades not just in India, but abroad too. Gems like Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Jagjit Singh, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle have lent their voice to evergreen melodious hindi melodies that are loved worldwide. Raj Kapoor's 'Awaara Hoon' continues to keep many generations of Russians besotted.
Coming to the literature produced in Hindi, it is by no means an understatement to say that it is remarkably exceptional. Divided into four forms, namely- Vir Gatha/Adi Kal, Bhakti Kal, Riti Kal and Adhunik Kal, it strongly influenced the minds of people. Prithviraj Raso, one of the first works in the history of Hindi literature, was written by Chand Bardai in Adi Kal. Poets like Kabir and Surdas shaped the entire Bhakti Movement during the Bhakti Kal, and Hindi poetry took its full form during the Riti Kal. The Adhunik Kal, with writers like Munshi Premchand, Amrita Pritam, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Mahadevi Verma writing aggressively about the evils persisting not just in the Indian society but amongst humankind, was able to bring out a big change in our society. Hindi literature in itself is as rich as literature produced in other languages, and it surely needs to be promoted more.
With globalisation, we're constantly modernizing ourselves, as a result of which Hindi has taken a backseat in our lives. English is emerging as the main language of communication even in our households. While English has opened the corridor to development, Hindi is one of languages which is reminiscent of our rich heritage and culture. Hindi is finding it quite hard to step into the lives of young Indians. It is important for us to keep Hindi alive by passing it on to our future generations, as Hindi has played a huge role in shaping the India we're living in today. We can make use of the power of digitalization to promote Hindi language, and to make sure that people don't drift away from this. Hindi is the heart and soul of our culture, and it must be preserved at all costs
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