 "All you need to know about Hindi and Hindi Divas")
Against the grand narrative that is India as a diverse nation — with its many languages, religions, castes... people — there is quite an outrage among some if Hindi is referred to as India’s national language.
True, Hindi isn’t India’s national language. In fact, India does not have a national language. There is nothing on record to suggest that any provision was ever made to declare Hindi or any other language as India’s national language.
But few would challenge the status of Hindi as one of the most used language in the country so far, even as its understanding among the younger Indians is getting feebler by the day.
Ask a new-age English-speaking Indian boy or girl in the national capital how he or she would call a common autorickshaw driver or chai walla, and the answer is Bhaiya, the most preferred Hindi word (meaning brother) for them to initiate a conversation.
Most of us would be familiar with sentences like ‘Bhaiya CP chaloge?’, ‘Bhaiya kitna hua?’ and ‘Bhaiya chai milegi?’. But how many would understand if an auto driver were to say ‘aap unnyasi rupaye kiraye ka bhugtaan karein’? Or if you asked someone what the time was and the person answered sava do baje hain or paune aath baj gaye.
There clearly is some drift that is taking place — away from Hindi — slowly but gradually. But that doesn’t take anything away (not yet) from Hindi as the most commonly spoken language in India and one of the most important languages of the country.
It is for this reason, and to highlight the cultural and linguistic heritage of Hindi as a key language in India, that we celebrate ‘Hindi Divas’ every year, on September 14 . The day is marked by events, competitions, feasts and other services.
More recently, with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in power at the Centre, there has been a greater thrust on giving Hindi a greater push and recognition.
Addressing the World Hindi Conference in Bhopal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week said English, Chinese and Hindi would rule the digital world in the coming days. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called for an official language status for Hindi at the United Nations. In fact, India has been lobbying for the support of at least 129 UN member-nations to get Hindi the status of an official language of the world body. At present, only English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic are recognised as official languages by the UN.
In the Census 2001, over 422 million people had listed Hindi as their mother tongue. No other language is used by more than 10 per cent of the Indian population.
However, the popularity of Hindi as a language has not been without opposition and troubles. According to an article in The Hindu, one of the main reasons for the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam’s (DMK’s) rise to power was the anti-Hindi struggle of 1965 in Tamil Nadu. Large-scale violence had erupted to oppose the phasing out of English as an associate official language. Peace was restored in the state only after an assurance from the then prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, that English would remain in use for official purposes till the state concerned wanted it.
However, the popularity of Hindi as a language has not been without opposition and troubles. According to an article in The Hindu, one of the main reasons for the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam’s (DMK’s) rise to power was the anti-Hindi struggle of 1965 in Tamil Nadu. Large-scale violence had erupted to oppose the phasing out of English as an associate official language. Peace was restored in the state only after an assurance from the then prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, that English would remain in use for official purposes till the state concerned wanted it.
Here are eight interesting things to know about Hindi as a language:
1. The name
Hindi got its name from the Persian word Hind, meaning ‘Land of the Indus River’. Hindi is a member of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European family of languages. It is written in Devanagari script and is heavily influenced by Sanskrit.
2. Use in official work
Hindi, along with English, is the official language of Government of India. The Constitution of India provides for the use of Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, as the official language by the Union.
3. Hindi Divas
The Constituent Assembly had on September 14, 1949, adopted Hindi as the official language of the Union. So, the day is celebrated every year as Hindia Divas (Hindi Day).
4. The structure
Hindi has 11 vowels and 33 consonants, and no articles (like ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ in English).
5. Every noun has a gender
Unlike in English, all nouns have genders in Hindi — either masculine or feminine. Adjectives and verbs change according to gender. Learning Hindi grammar is usually one of the most difficult steps in learning Hindi.
6. A global language?
Hindi is recognised as the fourth-largest language in the world. Besides India, it is widely spoken in countries like Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Pakistan and Nepal.
7. Hindi in Indian states
At the level of states, Hindi has been recognised as the official language of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
8. Sole official language
In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state in India to fully adopt Hindi.
