हिंदी भाषा का इतिहास

History of the Hindi Language

The Hindi language is part of the Indo-Aryan family of languages and has roots going back thousands of years to the Vedic period. It originated from Sanskrit which was spoken by the Aryans who invaded India around 1500 BCE. Over time, it evolved into Middle Indian Prakrits during the Vedic era followed by Pali, Ardhamagadhi, and Magadhi Prakrits. In the late Gupta period, it developed into Apabhramsha which eventually transformed into modern-day Hindi along with other regional dialects like Punjabi, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Assamese, Urdu, Maithili, and Nepali among others.

Evolution of the Hindi Script

The Devanāgarī alphabet was adapted as the writing system for Hindi in the early 19th century under British colonial rule when it became one of the official scripts for all the vernacular press in northern India. This change allowed printing technology to flourish alongside the growth of newspapers and books written in local languages such as Hindi. Before this, different forms of Persian scripts were used for writing Hindi in northern regions while in southern areas, the Telinga script served until Devanāgarī replaced them both.

Hindi Poetry & Literature

Hindi poetry dates back centuries with its earliest known form being Bhakti poetry which emerged between the 7th and 13th centuries. Other major genres include Dhrupads, Dandis, Dadras, Chaitis, Holis, Phags, Govindashtaks, Ramprapts, Tigars, Sakhis, Shringarmanjari, Chandals etc.. Famous poets of Hindi literature included Kabir who wrote his works largely in Avadhi, Atish Das Sinha who penned love poems set amidst courtly intrigue and romantic betrayal, Meerabai who composed devotional songs celebrating her intense love for Krishna, Mirza Ghalib whose suave verses explore themes of melancholy and love, and Premchand, a social realist best remembered for his short stories and novels chronicling rural life, especially the plight of peasants.

Some notable pieces of Hindi literature include 'Raghuvansham', a legendary epic poem in Hindi, 'Sachitananda' the first novel in Hindi, published in Allahabad in 1883, and 'Chander Shekhar Azad', the first Hindi autobiography based on the life of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad. Some well-known authors include Devaki Nandan Khatri, Munshi Premchand, Mahadevi Verma, and Harivansh Rai Bachchan.