It is said that India is a land of many languages making it a culturally rich country. Hundreds of languages are spoken in our country – one of them being Hindi.
Hindi language has evolved from Sanskrit thousands of years ago. Today, Hindi is India’s national language and is spoken by more than 600 million people across the world. Hindi is mainly spoken in northern states of Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, but is understood across the country. The language of Hindi has flourished over the time and has led to the creation of great many literature works in this language.
It was during the fourth century AD that Hindi was first used in writing. Originally, Hindi was first written using the Brahmi script but later after the 11th century AD, it was written in the Devanāgarī alphabet. The first printed book that was in Hindi language was John Gilchrist's ‘Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language’ which was published in 1796.
Some of the evergreen masters that have led to the advancement and the popularity of Hindi language and literature are Chand Bardai (author of Prithviraj Raso), Sheikh Farid, Amir Khusro (author of pahelis and mukris), Sant Kabir, Guru Nanak, Surdas (author of Vinaya Patrika, 'Sur Sagar, Malik Muhammad Jayasi (Padmavat), Mirabai, Goswami Tulasidas, Keshavdas (author of Rasikpriya) etc.
Some of the people who have contributed significantly to development of Hindi language and literature in the nineteenth century are Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Munshi Premchand, Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Maithili Sharan Gupt, R N Tripathi, Gopala Sharan Sinha, Harivanshrai Bachchan (especially for his poems) etc.
Hindi has been one of the factors that bind our country together despite the diversity it has. It is true that now-a-days English is given preference and the importance of our national and beautiful language is diminishing but it is in our own interest that we preserve our culture through the use of this language. The more we use the language; in offices, in shopping complex, in schools, in classes etc, the more we feel and smell the flavor of our land!