1949 September 14. A language spoken by the majority of Indians was unanimously accepted as the official language of our country - the language known for its simplicity. It’s not only the most spoken language of India, but also the 3rd most spoken language of the world. It’s spoken in almost all Northern states and understood by more than 75% people of India. It’s through the hard work of many persons, which gave it the title ‘Official/National language of India’. What else is needed as suffix to let you know the significance of this Indian language? I am sure no one will be confused with its answer. It’s none other than ‘Hindi’. Since this language was selected on September 14, 1949, every year we are celebrating National Hindi day on the same date. It’s also known as ‘Rashtrabhasha divas’, ‘Rajyabhasha divas’, ‘Hindi divas’ and 'Sabarkhbhasha divas’. Earlier, only one day was reserved for this celebration, later extended to one week and now its celebrations last for 15 days. Also, January 10 is celebrated as ‘World Hindi day’. Through this article, am giving you a brief note of most prominent people related to Hindi literature, who have given distinct footprints for we people to follow. Also, a few words about its origin and derivatives.

Mahadevi Varma

She is considered as the lady jewel of Hindi literature. She was born in 1907 in Ferooqabad of UP. Though she was born in a rich family, her sorrowful mind was always searching for something. From childhood itself she was interested in drawing and writing. Her poems and its subjects gave her the title ‘Modern Meera’. Neehar, Neeraja, Reshmi and Shantigeet were some of her early works. She wrote biographies Atheeth ka chalachitr, Smriti ke rekhayein and Sapthaparna. Her poem collections include Deepasikha and Sapthaparna. Through her poem ‘Parichay’, she portrayed her life in words. She died on September 11, 1987.

Munshi Premchand

He was born in Lemahi village of Varanasi in the year 1880, July 31. His childhood days told stories of bad phases of his life. Through his hard work he earned a teacher job and very soon, he reached a high post. Once he happened to hear Gandhiji’s speech and its magical word power prompted him to resign the job to take part in freedom struggle. ‘Sojavathan’ is the collection of his stories, but it was destroyed by British later. It was burned to ashes. Later he wrote novels named Sevasadan, Nirmala, Godan and Ranbhoomi. ‘Manasarovar’ is the collection of his stories. He is also known as ‘Kalamkasi Pahi’, ‘Kahani Samrat’ and ‘Upanyas Samrat’. He died on October 8, 1936.

Maithili Sharan Gupt

The poet known as Rashtrakavi was born in Chirgaov, near Jhansi, UP in the year 1886. He began his writings during his early childhood days and got blessings and appreciations from his father. During freedom struggle days, he wrote ‘Bharat Bharat’ for youth giving inspirations and true meanings of patriotism. Rang mein bhang, Saaket, Yesodara, Panchavadi, Jai Bharat and Kissan are his most famous works. He was an elected member of Rajya sabha and died in the year 1964, December 14.

Kabir Das

It’s believed that this great Indian poet com social reformer was born in Kasi in the year 1398. He was influenced by both religions – Hinduism and Islam and had a lot of followers belonging to both. He was one among the most famous poets of ‘Bhakthi’ period. He was born to a Brahmin widow who soon after giving birth, left him near a river bank and later, a Muslim couple brought him up giving the name ‘Kabir’. Swami Ramanand was his guru. He fought against social evils through his literary works and also protested against superstitions held by both Hindus and Muslims. His poems are known as ‘Doha’ – two line poems having a complete meaning. It contains some inner meaning too.

A few words about this simple language

According to Indian Constitution 343(1), India’s official language is Hindi with written script ‘Devangari’ font. In section 351, it’s also specified about the development of Hindi language.

It’s written in Devanagari lipi

11 Swarakhar and 33 Vyanganakshar together form Hindi written script. In addition to both, some extra ‘Anunasika swar’ and ‘Vyanjan’ were also introduced. It’s deeply influenced by Persian, Arabic and English. Also, to include those foreign words Hindi was revived again.

Different places, different Hindi

Though Hindi is the most spoken language of our country, it’s not common in all places. Its pronunciation and slang differs from place to place and state to state. When Delhi’s Hindi reaches Deccan, it becomes Dakhni. As time passed by, Dakhni poets of Lucknow and Delhi were deeply influenced by Persian. Thus a new language with Persian script was born – Urdu. During early days, Urdu was used only in military camps and Bazaars. Another derivation of UP Hindi is Bhojpuri. Actually, text book Hindi is spoken by non-Hindi speakers. It’s also shown in movies and while reading news. The Hindi speaking people speak in various dialects of Hindi namely Avadhi (Lucknow, Allahabad region), Brij Bhasa (Agra, Mathura region) and Bhojpuri/ Maithili (Bihar/ Jharkhand). When it comes to Madhya Pradesh, another version arises. It’s Bilaspuri.

Hindi from Sindhu

It’s believed that word ‘Hindi’ was derived from ‘Sindhu’ – a river flowing through Northern states. That’s why it’s a common language spoken in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

It’s true, if a person knows to speak this language, it’s not at all difficult to travel throughout India. It’s the most common language among common man, even more understood than English in our country. Through this article, I have tried to give a brief description about Hindi – the national language of India. Though I am a Keralite, I love this language for its simplicity and power. Normal words of Hindi language contain just three or four letters and never exceed five. This simplicity used for forming sentences with complex structures and a lot of meanings attracted me towards this language from my childhood itself. Though my spoken language is not Hindi, it’s my earnest tribute to this language on this very special occasion of its annual celebrations.