History of Hindustani
Encyclopedia
Hindustani
, presently represented by the official languages of India
and Pakistan
, Standard Hindi and Urdu
, originated during the Mughal Empire
, when the Persian
court language exerted a strong influence on the Indo-Aryan dialects
of central India, creating Rekhta
or "mixed" speech. It is this which came to be known as Hindustani, was elevated to a literary language, and is the basis for modern standard Hindi and Urdu. Although these official languages are distinct registers
in their formal aspects, such as modern technical vocabulary, they continue to be all but indistinguishable in their vernacular forms.
Most of the grammar and basic vocabulary of Hindustani descends directly from the medieval language of central India
, known as Sauraseni
. After the tenth century, several Sauraseni dialects were elevated to literary languages, or khari boli ("standing dialects"), including Braj Bhasha, Awadhi
, and the language of Delhi
; the latter still goes by the name Khari Boli in the rural areas outside the city of Delhi itself. During the reigns of the Delhi Sultanate
and the Mughal Empire
, which used Persian as their official language and established their capital in Delhi, the imperial court and concomitant immigration infused the Delhi dialect with large numbers of Persian, Arabic
, and Turkic
words from the court, primarily nouns, for cultural, legal, and political concepts. The new court language developed simultaneously in Delhi and Lucknow
, which is in an Awadhi-speaking area; thus modern Hindustani, though based primarily on Khari Boli, has a noticeable Awadhi influence.
The term Hindustani derives from Hindustan, the Persian name for the subcontinent. The term Ordu, or "camp language" (cognate with the English word horde
), was used to describe the common language
of the Mughal army. The works of the 13th century scholar Amir Khusro
are typical of the Hindustani language of the time:
Sej vo sūnī dekh ke rovun main din rain,
Piyā piyā main karat hūn pahron, pal bhar sukh nā chain.
"Seeing the empty bed I cry night and day
"Calling for my beloved all day, not a moment's happiness or rest."
Persian was crucial in the formation of a common language of the Central, North and Northwest regions of the South Asia
. Following the Mughal
conquest of South Asia and the resulting vast Islam
ic empire, especially in the northern and central regions of the South Asia
, a hybrid language of Arabic
, Pashto, Turkish
, Persian
, and local dialects began to form around the 16th and 17th centuries CE
, one that would eventually be known as Urdu
(from a Turkish
word "Ordu" meaning "army", in allusion to the army barracks of visiting troops).
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
built a new walled city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi
in 1639. The market close to the royal fort (Red Fort) came to be called Urdu Bazar
and the language was eventually termed "Urdu". It grew from the interaction of (often Persian-speaking) Muslim soldiers and native peoples. Soon, the Persian script and Nasta'liq
form of cursive was adopted, with additional figures added to accommodate the South Asian phonetic system, and a new language based on the South Asian grammar
with a vocabulary largely divided between Persian (and indirectly some Arabic) and local Prakrit
dialects. Elements peculiar to Persian, such as the enclitic ezāfe, and the use of the takhallus, were readily absorbed into Hindustani literature both religious and secular. This language was developed by Kashmiri Pandits and nowadays widely spoken in South Asia.
The poet Wali Deccani (1667–1707) visited Delhi in 1700. He is termed "Bava Adam" (founding father) of Urdu poetry by Maulana Muhammad Husain Azad
wrote in the monumental Aab-e-Hayat (Water of Life). His visit is considered to be of great significance for Urdu Gazals. His simple and melodious poems in Hindustani, stunned the Persian loving nobles of Delhi and made them aware of the beauty and capability of "Rekhta" or "Hindawi" (an old name for Hindustani) as a medium of poetic expression. His visit thus stimulated the development of Urdu Gazal in the imperial city of Old Delhi
.
Hindustani soon gained distinction as the preferred language in courts of South Asia and eventually replaced Persian among the nobles. To this day retains an important place in literary and cultural spheres. Many distinctly Persian forms of literature, such as ghazal
s and nazm
s, came to both influence and be affected by South Asian culture, producing a distinct melding of Middle Eastern and South Asian heritages. A famous cross-over writer was Amir Khusro
, whose Persian and Urdu couplets are to this day read in the subcontinent. Persian has sometimes been termed an adopted classical language of the South Asia alongside Sanskrit due to its role in South Asian tradition.
, Turkish
, Arabic
, Portuguese
, and English
.
and later British rule. English-language education for the native administrative and richer classes during the period of British rule accelerated the adoption of English vocabulary in Hindustani. Many technical and modern terms were borrowed from English, such as doctor /ˈɖɔkʈɻ/, taxi /ˈʈɑksi/, and meter /ˈmiʈɻ/. The influence of English and incidence of new loan words continue to the present day.
in the late Medieval to Early Modern period.
.
sees the separation of Hindustani
(Khariboli
) into two standardized dialects, Urdu
and Standard Hindi.
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
, presently represented by the official languages of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Standard Hindi and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, originated during the Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
, when the Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
court language exerted a strong influence on the Indo-Aryan dialects
Hindi languages
The Hindi languages, also known as Madhya and the Central Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages, is a subset of the varieties of Hindi spoken across northern India that descend from the Madhya prakrits, and includes the official languages of India and Pakistan, Hindi and Urdu...
of central India, creating Rekhta
Rekhta
Rekhta was the Persianized form of the Khariboli dialect of Hindi now known by the names "Hindustani", "Hindi", and "Urdu", although Rekhta is now almost synonymous with Urdu, as its poetry is still used and made today by Urdu speakers. From the late 17th century till the closing decades of the...
or "mixed" speech. It is this which came to be known as Hindustani, was elevated to a literary language, and is the basis for modern standard Hindi and Urdu. Although these official languages are distinct registers
Register (sociolinguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
in their formal aspects, such as modern technical vocabulary, they continue to be all but indistinguishable in their vernacular forms.
Formation
Middle Indo-Aryan languages
The Middle Indo-Aryan languages are the early medieval dialects of the Indo-Aryan languages, the descendants of the Old Indo-Aryan dialects such as Vedic & Classical Sanskrit, and the predecessors of the late medieval languages such as Apabhramsha or Abahatta, which eventually evolved into the...
, known as Sauraseni
Sauraseni
A Dramatic Prakrit, Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries AD, though it was probably a spoken colloquial around the 5th century BC...
. After the tenth century, several Sauraseni dialects were elevated to literary languages, or khari boli ("standing dialects"), including Braj Bhasha, Awadhi
Awadhi language
Awadhi is an Indo-Aryan language, part of the Hindi-Urdu continuum. It is spoken chiefly in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, although its speakers are also found in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Nepal. Furthermore, the Fiji Hindi dialect spoken by Indo-Fijians is considered a variant of Awadhi,...
, and the language of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
; the latter still goes by the name Khari Boli in the rural areas outside the city of Delhi itself. During the reigns of the Delhi Sultanate
Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, of Turkic origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty...
and the Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
, which used Persian as their official language and established their capital in Delhi, the imperial court and concomitant immigration infused the Delhi dialect with large numbers of Persian, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, and Turkic
Chagatai language
The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...
words from the court, primarily nouns, for cultural, legal, and political concepts. The new court language developed simultaneously in Delhi and Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, which is in an Awadhi-speaking area; thus modern Hindustani, though based primarily on Khari Boli, has a noticeable Awadhi influence.
The term Hindustani derives from Hindustan, the Persian name for the subcontinent. The term Ordu, or "camp language" (cognate with the English word horde
Horde
Horde may refer to:* Ordo * a clan or army of steppe nomads . See Orda * the Blue and White Horde, formed 1226, 1227* the Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s...
), was used to describe the common language
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the Mughal army. The works of the 13th century scholar Amir Khusro
Amir Khusro
Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
are typical of the Hindustani language of the time:
Sej vo sūnī dekh ke rovun main din rain,
Piyā piyā main karat hūn pahron, pal bhar sukh nā chain.
"Seeing the empty bed I cry night and day
"Calling for my beloved all day, not a moment's happiness or rest."
Persian was crucial in the formation of a common language of the Central, North and Northwest regions of the South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
. Following the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
conquest of South Asia and the resulting vast Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic empire, especially in the northern and central regions of the South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, a hybrid language of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Pashto, Turkish
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, and local dialects began to form around the 16th and 17th centuries CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
, one that would eventually be known as Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
(from a Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
word "Ordu" meaning "army", in allusion to the army barracks of visiting troops).
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahan Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) Shah Jahan (also spelled Shah Jehan, Shahjehan, , Persian: شاه جهان) (January 5, 1592 – January 22, 1666) (Full title: His Imperial Majesty Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan...
built a new walled city of Shahjahanabad in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
in 1639. The market close to the royal fort (Red Fort) came to be called Urdu Bazar
Urdu Bazar
The Urdu Bazar was a major market in the walled city of Delhi, India that connected the canal in the middle of Chandni Chowk to Jama Masjid. The original market was destroyed in the aftermath of Indian Rebellion of 1857, but its name survives as a location near the Jama Masjid. The Urdu language...
and the language was eventually termed "Urdu". It grew from the interaction of (often Persian-speaking) Muslim soldiers and native peoples. Soon, the Persian script and Nasta'liq
Nasta'liq script
' is one of the main script styles used in writing the Perso-Arabic script, and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy. It was developed in Iran in the 8th and 9th centuries...
form of cursive was adopted, with additional figures added to accommodate the South Asian phonetic system, and a new language based on the South Asian grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
with a vocabulary largely divided between Persian (and indirectly some Arabic) and local Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
dialects. Elements peculiar to Persian, such as the enclitic ezāfe, and the use of the takhallus, were readily absorbed into Hindustani literature both religious and secular. This language was developed by Kashmiri Pandits and nowadays widely spoken in South Asia.
The poet Wali Deccani (1667–1707) visited Delhi in 1700. He is termed "Bava Adam" (founding father) of Urdu poetry by Maulana Muhammad Husain Azad
Muhammad Husain Azad
Muhammad Husain Azad , known as Ehsan Azad, was an Urdu writer, who is regarded as the best Urdu prose writer. He wrote prose as well as poetry but he is mostly remembered for his prose. He contribution and impact is immense to Urdu literature and prose in particular. He is famous for his...
wrote in the monumental Aab-e-Hayat (Water of Life). His visit is considered to be of great significance for Urdu Gazals. His simple and melodious poems in Hindustani, stunned the Persian loving nobles of Delhi and made them aware of the beauty and capability of "Rekhta" or "Hindawi" (an old name for Hindustani) as a medium of poetic expression. His visit thus stimulated the development of Urdu Gazal in the imperial city of Old Delhi
Old Delhi
Old Delhi , walled city of Delhi, India, was founded as Shahjahanabad by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in 1639. It remained the capital of the Mughals until the end of the Mughal dynasty....
.
Hindustani soon gained distinction as the preferred language in courts of South Asia and eventually replaced Persian among the nobles. To this day retains an important place in literary and cultural spheres. Many distinctly Persian forms of literature, such as ghazal
Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
s and nazm
Nazm
Urdu Nazm is a major part of the Urdu poetry, that is normally written in rhymed verse and also in modern prose style poems. Nazm has many different forms as,* Doha * Geet * Hamd * Hazal * Hijv...
s, came to both influence and be affected by South Asian culture, producing a distinct melding of Middle Eastern and South Asian heritages. A famous cross-over writer was Amir Khusro
Amir Khusro
Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
, whose Persian and Urdu couplets are to this day read in the subcontinent. Persian has sometimes been termed an adopted classical language of the South Asia alongside Sanskrit due to its role in South Asian tradition.
Loan words
The vocabulary of Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu includes loan words from Sanskrit, PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Loanwords from Turkic languages
There are only 24 Turkish words which are used in Urdu all the rest which are attributed to Turkish are either Persian or Arabic, according to Dr. Syed Mohammed Anwer.Loanwords from English
Loan words were borrowed from English into Hindustani through interaction with the British East India CompanyBritish East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and later British rule. English-language education for the native administrative and richer classes during the period of British rule accelerated the adoption of English vocabulary in Hindustani. Many technical and modern terms were borrowed from English, such as doctor /ˈɖɔkʈɻ/, taxi /ˈʈɑksi/, and meter /ˈmiʈɻ/. The influence of English and incidence of new loan words continue to the present day.
Antiquity (Old Indo-Aryan)
- 600 BCE: late Vedic SanskritVedic SanskritVedic Sanskrit is an old Indo-Aryan language. It is an archaic form of Sanskrit, an early descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian. It is closely related to Avestan, the oldest preserved Iranian language...
. - 500 BCE: PrakritPrakritPrakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
texts of Buddhists and Jains originate (Eastern India) - 400 BCE: Pāṇini composes his formal Sanskrit grammarSanskrit grammarThe grammar of the Sanskrit language has a complex verbal system, rich nominal declension, and extensive use of compound nouns. It was studied and codified by Sanskrit grammarians from the later Vedic period , culminating in the Pāṇinian grammar of the 4th century BC.-Grammatical tradition:The...
(GandharaGandharaGandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
), reflecting transition from Vedic to formal Pāṇinian (Classical) SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand... - 322 BCE: BrahmiBrāhmī scriptBrāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
script inscriptions by Mauryas in Prakrit (PaliPáli- External links :* *...
) - 250 BCE: first records of Classical Sanskrit. [Vidhyanath Rao]
- 100 BCE-100 CE: Sanskrit gradually replaces Prakrit in inscriptions
- 320: The GuptaGupta scriptThe Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. The Gupta script was descended from Brahmi and gave rise to the Nagari, Sharada and Siddham scripts...
or Siddha-matrika script emerges.
Middle Ages
- 400: ApabhramshaApabhramshaApabhraṃśa is a term used by Sanskrit grammarians since Patañjali to refer to dialects that deviate from the norm of Sanskrit grammar. The term in Sanskrit literally means "corrupt" or "non-grammatical language". It is used as a cover term for the dialects forming the transition between the late...
in Kalidas's Vikramuurvashiiya - 550: Dharasena of Valabhi's inscription mentions ApabhramshaApabhramshaApabhraṃśa is a term used by Sanskrit grammarians since Patañjali to refer to dialects that deviate from the norm of Sanskrit grammar. The term in Sanskrit literally means "corrupt" or "non-grammatical language". It is used as a cover term for the dialects forming the transition between the late...
literature - 779: Regional languages mentioned by Udyotan Suri in "Kuvalayamala"
- 769: Siddha Sarahpa composes Dohakosh, considered the first Hindi poet
- 800: Bulk of the Sanskrit literature after this time is commentaries. [Vidhyanath Rao]
- 933: Shravakachar of Devasena, considered the first Hindi book.
- 1100: Modern DevanagariDevanagariDevanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
script emerges - 1145-1229: Hemachandra writes on Apabhramsha grammar
Islamic empires
Islamic empires in IndiaIslamic empires in India
Beginning in the 12th century, several Islamic states were established in the Indian subcontinentin the course of a gradual Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent....
in the late Medieval to Early Modern period.
- 1283: Amir KhusroAmir KhusroAb'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow , better known as Amīr Khusrow Dehlawī , was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent...
's pahelis and mukaris. Uses term "Hindavi" - 1398-1518: KabirKabirKabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement...
's works mark origin of "Nirguna-Bhakti" period - 1370-: Love-story period originated by "Hansavali" of Asahat
- 1400-1479: RaighuRaighuRaighu was the last of the great Apabhramsha poets. He also supervised the pratishtha of the many, perhaps most of the Jain idols carved on the hill side in the Gwalior Fort during the rule of Tomar Dungarsingh.He wrote many books during sam...
: last of the great Apabhramsha poets - 1450: "Saguna Bhakti" period starts with RamanandaRamanandaRamananda , also referred to as Sant Ramanand or Swami Ramanand, was a Vaishnava sant. He is considered to be the reviver of the Ramanandi sect. Ramananda for the most part of his life lived in the holy city of Varanasi, and was a pioneer of the Bhakti movement, as well as a social reformer in...
- 1580: Early Dakkhini work "Kalmitul-hakayat" of Burhanuddin Janam
- 1585: "Bhaktamal" of Nabhadas: an account of Hindi Bhakta-poets
- 1601: "Ardha-Kathanak" by BanarasidasBanarasidasBanarasidas was a Shrimal Jain businessman and poet of Mughal India. He is known for his poetic autobiography - Ardhakathānaka, , composed in Braj Bhasa, an early dialect of Hindi linked with the region around Mathura. It is the first autobiography written in an Indian language...
, first autobiography in Hindi - 1604: "Adi GranthAdi GranthAdi Granth is the early compilation of the Sikh Scriptures by Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Sikh Guru, in 1604. This Granth is the Holy Scripture of the Sikhs. The tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh added further holy Shabads to this Granth during the period 1704 to 1706...
" a compilation of works of many poets by Guru Arjan Dev. - 1532-1623: TulsidasTulsidasTulsidas , was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama...
, author of "Ramacharita Manasa". - 1623: "Gora-badal ki katha" of Jatmal, first book in Khari Boli dialect (now the standard dialect)
- 1643: "Reeti" poetry tradition commences according to Ramchandra Shukla
- 1645: Shahjahan builds DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
fort, language in the locality starts to be termed UrduUrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
. - 1667-1707: Vali's compositions become popular, Urdu starts replacing PersianPersian languagePersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
among Delhi nobility. It is often called "Hindi" by Sauda, Meer etc. - 1600-1825: Poets (Bihari to Padmakar) supported by rulers of Orchha and other domains.
Colonial period
Modern Hindi literature emerges during the Colonial periodBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
.
- 1796: Earliest type-based DevanagariDevanagariDevanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
printing (John Borthwick GilchristJohn Borthwick GilchristJohn Borthwick Gilchrist FRSE was a Scottish surgeon and Indologist.-Early life:Gilchrist was born in Edinburgh to merchant Walter Gilchrist, who disappeared the year he was born...
, Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, Calcutta) [Dick Plukker] - 1805: Lalloo Lal's Premsagar published for Fort William CollegeFort William CollegeFort William College was an academy and learning centre of Oriental studies established by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India. It was founded on July 10, 1800 within the Fort William complex in Calcutta...
, Calcutta [Daisy Rockwell] - 1813-46: Maharaja Swati Tirunal Rama Varma (TravancoreTravancoreKingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
) composed verses in Hindi along with South IndiaSouth IndiaSouth India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
n languages. - 1826: "Udanta Martanda" Hindi weekly from Calcutta
- 1837: Shardha Ram PhillauriShardha Ram PhillauriShardha Ram Phillauri was a Punjabi missionary, social reformer, astrologer, and writer, best remembered for his contributions to Hindi and Punjabi literature. He has been called the “father of modern Punjabi prose."...
, author of "Om Jai Jagdish HareJai Jagdish HareOm Jai Jagdish Hare is a Hindu bhajan , composed in or near the 1870s by Pandit Shardha Ram Phillauri in Punjab, India. Even though it is in Hindi, it is universally used by Hindus around the world speaking any of the numerous Indian languages, or belonging to any one of many sects.It may have been...
" born - 1839,1847: "History of Hindi Literature" by Garcin de Tassy in French [Daisy Rockwell]
- 1833-86: GujaratiGujarati peopleGujarati people , or Gujaratis are an ethnic group that is traditionally Gujarati-speaking and can trace their ancestry to the state of Gujarat in western India...
Poet Narmad proposed Hindi as India's national language - 1850: The term "Hindi" no longer used for what is now called "Urdu".
- 1854: "Samachar Sudhavarshan" Hindi daily from Calcutta
- 1873: Mahendra Bhattachary's "Padarth-vigyan" (Chemistry) in Hindi
- 1877: Novel Bhagyavati by Shardha Ram PhillauriShardha Ram PhillauriShardha Ram Phillauri was a Punjabi missionary, social reformer, astrologer, and writer, best remembered for his contributions to Hindi and Punjabi literature. He has been called the “father of modern Punjabi prose."...
- 1886: "BharatenduBharatendu HarishchandraBharatendu Harishchandra is known as the father of modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre. He is considered one of the greatest Hindi writers of modern India. A recognized poet, he was also a trend setter in Hindi prose-writing...
period" of modern Hindi literature starts - 1893 Founding of the Nagari Pracharini SabhaNagari Pracharini SabhaThe Nagari Pracharini Sabha was an organization founded in 1893 at the Queen's College, Varanasi for the promotion of the Devanagari script.Dictionaries are among the many scholarly publications by the Sabha. The Hiṅdi-śabdasāgara by Śyāmasundara Dāsa was first published 1916-1928, with a new...
in BenaresVaranasi-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
[Daisy Rockwell] - 1900: "Dvivedi period" starts. Nationalist writings
- 1900: "Indumati" story by Kishorilal Goswami in "Sarasvati"
- 1918-1938: "Chhayavad period"
- 1918: "Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachara Sabha" founded by Mahatma GandhiMahatma GandhiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
. - 1929: "History of Hindi Literature" by Acharya Ram Chandra ShuklaAcharya Ram Chandra ShuklaRam Chandra Shukla , better known as Acharya Shukla, is regarded as the first codifier of the history of Hindi literature in a scientific system by efforting great research with scanty resources and published ‘Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihaas’.This monumental work traces the genesis of Hindi poetry and...
- 1931: "Alam AraAlam AraAlam Ara is a 1931 film directed by Ardeshir Irani. It was the first Indian sound film.Irani recognized the importance that sound would have on the cinema, and raced to complete Alam Ara before several contemporary sound films. Alam Ara debuted at the Majestic Cinema in Mumbai on March 14, 1931...
" first Hindi talking movie - 1930's: Hindi typewriters ("Nagari lekhan Yantra") [Shailendra Mehta]
- 1936: KamayaniKamayaniKamayani is a Hindi epic poem by Jaishankar Prasad . It is considered one of the greatest literary works written in modern times in Hindi literature...
, the most celebrated Hindi epic poem, written by Jaishankar PrasadJaishankar PrasadJaishankar Prasad , one of the most famous figures in modern Hindi literature as well as Hindi theatre.- Biography :...
Post-Partition
The 1947 partition of IndiaPartition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
sees the separation of Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
(Khariboli
Khariboli
Khariboli , also Khari Boli, Khadiboli, Khadi Boli or simply Khari, is a Western Hindi dialect spoken mainly in the rural surroundings of Delhi, the northern areas of Western Uttar Pradesh and the southern areas of Uttarakhand in India...
) into two standardized dialects, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
and Standard Hindi.
- 1949: Official Language Act makes the use of Hindi in Central Government Offices mandatory
- 1949-50: Hindi accepted as the "official language of the Union" in the constitution. Debates a, b, c.
- 1952: The Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan recommends that Urdu be the state language.
- 1958: definition of Modern Standard Hindi by the Central Hindi DirectorateCentral Hindi DirectorateThe Central Hindi Directorate , New Delhi is the department, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development , responsible for promotion of Standard Hindi. It also regulates the use of Devanagari script and Hindi spelling in India....
- 1965: Opposition to "Blind Hindi-imposition by Congress" in Tamil Nadu, where Tamil – the predominant Dravidian language – lives, brings Dravida Munnetra KazhagamDravida Munnetra KazhagamDravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar...
(DMK) to power. Congress lost its base. - 1975: English medium private schools start asserting themselves socially, politically, financially [Peter Hook].
- 1985-6: Devanagari word processor, Devyani DTP software, both from Dataflow.
- 1987-88: Frans Velthuis creates Devanagari metafont. [Shailendra Mehta]
- 1990: According to World Almanac and Book of Facts Hindi-Urdu has passed English (and Spanish) to become the second most widely spoken language in the world [Peter Hook].
- 1991: ITRANSITRANSThe "Indian languages TRANSliteration" is an ASCII transliteration scheme for Indic scripts, particularly for Devanagari script. It was developed by Avinash Chopde. The latest version of ITRANS is version 5.30 released in July, 2001...
encoding scheme developed by Avinash Chopde allows Hindi documents in Roman and Devanagari on the Internet. - 1997: Prime Minister Deve Gowda emphasises promotion of Hindi and the regional languages, having himself learned Hindi recently.
- 1997: Hindi Newspaper Nai Dunia on the web (January) (Or was Milap first?)
- 1998: Thiru Karunanidhi, the DMK leader, recites a Hindi verse during a political campaign, indicating a change in views http://www.indianexpress.com/news/on-the-eve-of-dday-with-sc-karunanidhis-h/223340/.
See also
- Linguistic history of IndiaLinguistic history of IndiaOriginating more than 5,000 years ago, records of the linguistic history of India began with early pictures that transformed into pictorial scripts and engravings and eventually to modern orthographies...
- Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) word etymologyHindustani (Hindi-Urdu) word etymologyHindustānī also known as "Hindi-Urdu," is a term used by linguists to describe several closely related idioms in the northern, central and northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. It encompasses two standardized registers in the form of the official languages of Hindi and Urdu language, as...
- List of Urdu writers
External links
- History and Evolution of Hindi Language Extended resource compiled by Abhinav Bhatele (accessed Mar 16, 2006).
- Here is a brief summary of the history of UrduUrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
by the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.