History of Hindustani

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The history of the Hindi dialect continuum (including Urdu), i.e. the Central zone dialects of Indo-Aryan.

These dialects emerge out of Apabhramsha in the 7th century and by the 10 century become identifiable as the predecessors of the contemporary Indo-Aryan languages (Old Hindi).

Braj was the popular literary dialect until it was replaced by khari boli in the 19th century.

Since the 1947 partition of India, a Sanskritized version of khari boli has become a major lingua franca of the Republic of India, known as Standard Hindi, and a Persianized version of khari boli has become the major lingua franca of Pakistan, known as Urdu.

Contents

[edit] Antiquity (Prakrits)

[edit] Middle Ages

Main article: Middle Indic
  • 400: Apabhramsha in Kalidas's Vikramuurvashiiya
  • 550: Dharasena of Valabhi's inscription mentions Apabhramsha literature
  • 779: Regional languages mentioned by Udyotan Suri in "Kuvalayamala"
  • 769: Siddha Sarahpa composes Dohakosh, considered the first Hindi poet
  • 800: Bulk of the Sanskrit literature after this time is commentaries. [Vidhyanath Rao]
  • 933: Shravakachar of Devasena, considered the first Hindi book.[citation needed]
  • 1100: Modern Devanagari script emerges
  • 1145-1229: Hemachandra writes on Apabhramsha grammar

[edit] Islamic empires

Main article: Hindavi
Further information: UrduHindi and Urdu, and Rekhta

Islamic empires in India in the late Medieval to Early Modern period.

  • 1283: Amir Khusro's pahelis and mukaris. Uses term "Hindavi"
  • 1398-1518: Kabir's works mark origin of "Nirguna-Bhakti" period
  • 1370-: Love-story period originated by "Hansavali" of Asahat
  • 1400-1479: Raighu: last of the great Apabhramsha poets
  • 1450: "Saguna Bhakti" period starts with Ramananda
  • 1580: Early Dakkhini work "Kalmitul-hakayat" of Burhanuddin Janam
  • 1585: "Bhaktamal" of Nabhadas: an account of Hindi Bhakta-poets
  • 1601: "Ardha-Kathanak" by Banarasidas, first autobiography in Hindi
  • 1604: "Adi Granth" a compilation of works of many poets by Guru Arjan Dev.
  • 1532-1623: Tulsidas, author of "Ramacharita Manasa".
  • 1623: "Gora-badal ki katha" of Jatmal, first book in Khari Boli dialect (now the standard dialect)
  • 1643: "Reeti" poetry tradition commences according to Ramchandra Shukla
  • 1645: Shahjahan builds Delhi fort, language in the locality starts to be termed Urdu.
  • 1667-1707: Vali's compositions become popular, Urdu starts replacing Persian among Delhi nobility. It is often called "Hindi" by Sauda, Meer etc.
  • 1600-1825: Poets (Bihari to Padmakar) supported by rulers of Orchha and other domains.

[edit] Colonial period

Modern Hindi literature emerges during the Colonial period.

  • 1796: Earliest type-based Devanagari printing (John Borthwick Gilchrist, Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, Calcutta) [Dick Plukker]
  • 1805: Lalloo Lal's Premsagar [1] published for Fort William College, Calcutta [Daisy Rockwell]
  • 1813-46: Maharaja Swati Tirunal Rama Varma(Travancore) composed verses in Hindi along with South Indian languages.
  • 1826: "Udanta Martanda" Hindi weekly from Calcutta
  • 1837: Shardha Ram Phillauri, author of "Om Jai Jagdish Hare" born
  • 1839,1847: "History of Hindi Literature" by Garcin de Tassy in French [Daisy Rockwell]
  • 1833-86: Gujarati Poet Narmad proposed Hindi as India's national language
  • 1850: The term "Hindi" no longer used for what is now called "Urdu".
  • 1854: "Samachar Sudhavarshan" Hindi daily from Calcutta
  • 1873: Mahendra Bhattachary's "Padarth-vigyan" (Chemistry) in Hindi
  • 1877: Novel Bhagyavati by Shardha Ram Phillauri
  • 1886: "Bharatendu period" of modern Hindi literature starts
  • 1893 Founding of the Nagari Pracharini Sabha in Benares [Daisy Rockwell]
  • 1900: "Dvivedi period" starts. Nationalist writings
  • 1900: "Indumati" story by Kishorilal Goswami in "Sarasvati"
  • 1913: "Raja Harishchandra", first Hindi movie by Dadasaheb Phalke
  • 1918-1938: "Chhayavad period"
  • 1918: "Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachara Sabha" founded by Mahatma Gandhi.
  • 1929: "History of Hindi Literature" by Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla
  • 1931: "Alam Ara" first Hindi talking movie
  • 1930's: Hindi typewriters ("Nagari lekhan Yantra")[Shailendra Mehta]
  • 1936: Kamayani, the most celebrated Hindi epic poem, written by Prasad

[edit] Post-Partition

The 1947 partition of India sees the separation of Hindustani (Khariboli) into two standardized dialects, Urdu and Standard Hindi.

  • 1949: Official Language Act makes the use of Hindi in Central Government Offices mandatory
  • 1949-50: Hindi accepted as the "official language of the Union" in the constitution. Debates a, b, c.
  • 1952: The Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan recommends that Urdu be the state language.
  • 1958: definition of Modern Standard Hindi by the Central Hindi Directorate
  • 1965: Opposition to "Blind Hindi-imposition by Congress" in Tamilnadu, where Tamil- the predominant Dravidian Language, lives brings DMK to power.Congress lost its base.
  • 1975: English medium private schools start asserting themselves socially, politically, financially [Peter Hook].
  • 1985-6: Devanagari word processor, Devyani DTP software, both from Dataflow.
  • 1987-88: Frans Velthuis creates Devanagari metafont. [Shailendra Mehta]
  • 1990: According to World Almanac and Book of Facts Hindi-Urdu has passed English (and Spanish) to become the second most widely spoken language in the world [Peter Hook].
  • 1991: ITRANS encoding scheme developed by Avinash Chopde allows Hindi documents in Roman and Devanagari on the Internet.
  • 1997: Prime Minister Deve Gowda emphasises promotion of Hindi and the regional languages, having himself learned Hindi recently.
  • 1997: Hindi Newspaper Nai Dunia on the web (January) (Or was Milap first?)
  • 1998: Thiru Karunanidhi, the DMK leader, recites a Hindi verse during a political campaign, indicating a change in views.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Languages