Hindi

Overview

Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in India, particularly across the northern and central regions known collectively as the Hindi Belt. It is written in the Devanagari script and is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Hindi, in its Standard form, is one of the two official languages of the Government of India, the other being English.

Key facts

Background

Hindi descends from Sanskrit through stages including Prakrit and Apabhramsha. Modern Standard Hindi developed largely from the Khari Boli dialect spoken in the region around Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh. It shares a common colloquial base with Urdu, with the two often grouped together as Hindustani; the principal differences lie in the script (Devanagari for Hindi, Perso-Arabic for Urdu) and in much of the higher-register vocabulary, which is drawn from Sanskrit in Hindi and from Persian and Arabic in Urdu.

Script and writing system

Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida in which each consonant carries an inherent vowel that may be modified by diacritics. The script is written from left to right and uses a distinctive horizontal headline (shirorekha) connecting the letters of a word. Devanagari is also used for Sanskrit, Marathi, Nepali, and several other languages.

Official status

Under Article 343 of the Constitution of India, Hindi in the Devanagari script was designated the official language of the Union. The Official Languages Act, 1963 provided for the continued use of English alongside Hindi for official purposes of the Union. Hindi is also the official or co-official language of several states and Union Territories, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi.

Dialects and varieties

Hindi is often used as a cover term for a range of related linguistic varieties spoken across the Hindi Belt. These include:

• Khari Boli – the basis of Modern Standard Hindi.
• Braj Bhasha – associated with the region around Mathura and Vrindavan, and a major medium of devotional literature.
• Awadhi – associated with central Uttar Pradesh; the language of Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas.
• Bhojpuri – spoken in eastern Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar.
• Maithili – spoken in northern Bihar; recognised as a separate scheduled language.
• Magahi, Chhattisgarhi, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Kumaoni, and Garhwali – varieties traditionally classified within the broader Hindi grouping, though several are increasingly studied as distinct languages.

Literature

Hindi literature has a long and varied tradition. Early literary output in forms such as Braj Bhasha and Awadhi includes the devotional poetry of figures such as Kabir, Surdas, Tulsidas, and Mirabai. Modern Hindi literature, written largely in Khari Boli, developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, with prominent writers including Bharatendu Harishchandra, Premchand, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Varma, and Harivansh Rai Bachchan. The Sahitya Akademi recognises Hindi as one of the major literary languages of India.

Use in media and education

Hindi is a major language of Indian print media, broadcasting, cinema, and the internet. The Hindi-language film industry, centred in Mumbai and commonly referred to as Bollywood, is among the largest film industries in the world. Hindi is widely taught in schools across India and is offered as a subject of study in many universities both within India and abroad.

Hindi Diwas

Hindi Diwas is observed on 14 September each year to mark the adoption of Hindi in the Devanagari script as an official language of the Union by the Constituent Assembly of India in 1949.

Related topics

• Devanagari
• Urdu
• Hindustani Language
• Sanskrit
• Languages of India
• Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India
• Hindi Literature
• Hindi Diwas
• Bollywood

References

• Constitution of India, Part XVII (Official Language).
• The Official Languages Act, 1963.
• Sahitya Akademi publications on Hindi literature.