On the occasion of "Hindi Divas", it is worth our while to reflect on this great but underrated language

And also reflect on which variant of Hindi do we wish to preserve and popularize in future to facilitate national integration

There are many misconceptions about Hindi

Misconception 1 : It is a very young language

Misconception 2 : Its persianized register (Urdu) is older and better understood

Misconception 3 : It is totally alien to people outside the Hindi belt

Hindi is anything but a young language.

Sure it may not be as old as Tamil or even Kannada.

But it is an old language nonetheless with a continuous literary tradition of over 600 years.

Its roots go back to the Sauraseni and Apabhramshi dialect of Northern India in the 1st millennium (which are direct descendants of Vedic Sanskrit)

The second big lie about Hindi is that it is a Sanskritized language imposed on the country by Hindu nationalists post 1947 who rid the language of its persian elements post partition.

And that this Sanskritized language is somehow "brahminical" and not as well understood

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hindi is a much older language than Urdu. The latter is a persianized dialect of Hindi-Khariboli, a younger cousin language that grew popular during the late Mughal period of 18th / early 19th century.

Hindi in contrast has a literary tradition that goes back by over half a millennium. It is the language of Kabir. The language of Surdas. The language of the great Tulsidas.

And the thing about Hindi is -

It's sanskritized register is anything but elitist, but is the best understood dialect of the language

While its persianized register is poorly understood despite the effort of the persianized North Indian elites to popularize it through Bollywood

What's "elitist" about HIndi is actually the Persianized Hindustani of the Delhi elite. The language used by Raj Kapoor or Dilip Kumar in Bollywood movies.
The language used by Muslim writers in filmdom.

Khairiyat
Aitraaz
Aabroo
Aetbaar
Imtehaan

That's elitist!

The language of the masses was always much more sanskritized!

Talk to people in Ballia or Rohtak or Gaya

You are more likely to hear

Kushal Mangal rather than Khairiyat
Aapatti instead of Aitraaz
Sammaan instead of Aabroo
Lag Bhag instead of Takreeban
Gaurav instead of Izzat

I stayed in NCR for many years

My Jat maidservant always preferred Samapt instead of Khatam.
Though my middle class persianized upper-caste colleagues preferred Khatam over Samapt

The deeper you go into the countryside, the more common the use of pure Sanskrit / Prakrit words.

Persian / Arabic words are most frequently used mainly in the large cities where the elites have been exposed to Persian (read Muslim) culture for centuries

And here's the greater irony - Sanskritized Hindi is FAR FAR likelier to be understood by non-Hindi speakers than Persianized Hindustani or Urdu

Go to Madurai, Srirangam, Sringeri, TIrupati.

They will most likely understand Prayog. Not Istemaal

They will understand Upaay. Not Tarkeeb

They will get Dukh. Not Gham.

They know what's Bhoomi. Not Zameen

Sanskrit Tatsama words have penetrated the Dravidian languages to a FAR FAR greater extent than Persian / Arabic words.

So the Sanskritized register of Hindi is much likelier to get South Indian backers than the Persianized language of Premchand or Saadat Hasan Manto

These realities ought to be grasped and emphasized on this Hindi divas. Also to claim that Hindi is younger than Urdu as many do, is downright false

The Sanskritized register of HIndi embraced by the establishment post independence was very much the right choice, though the islamised elites and the film industry despise that tongue

It is actually an old Bollywood habit to parody that tongue as the language of the Pundit.

It is not "brahminical". It is infact the language of the masses.

What's elitist is the language of Bollywood's lyricists and screenwriters - who attempt to perpetuate a courtly language which is very far removed from the Sanskritized Hindi of the masses

Post script : There was an earlier version of the thread floating around that I deleted on account of some typos. Feel free to share again if you shared the earlier one

Post script 2 : This thread must not be interpreted as a plea for more Hindi imposition. Or as an argument against English

I love the English language personally and wish more people learn it.
I would also love Hindi speakers in the north to learn other Indian languages

(Contd)

This thread is merely to note the importance of Hindi as a lingua franca, and to clarify certain misconceptions about Hindi which often malign it.

And also to reflect briefly on which flavor of Hindi is indeed most accessible across this vast and heterogeneous country