Hindi Diwas Essay

Many languages ​​are spoken in India. 22 languages ​​have been recognized by the constitution. Among all these languages, Hindi is the most spoken language of India. Now, the number of people who speak and know Hindi is increasing all over the world, and Hindi is ranked third in the most spoken language in the world. In addition to being the oldest language in the world, Hindi is also the simplest and most prosperous language. Its script is Devanagari and anyone can learn it easily. Reading the Hindi language is very easy, so people outside India are also attracted towards Hindi and want to learn it.  

Hindi is spoken as a second language in most parts of the country, except for the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and also by a large part of people in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh, who also write in this language.

Hindi is India’s second language, next only to English. Despite this, India’s official status and recognition of this language is far from being satisfactory. 

While English is the most popular foreign language in India, Hindi has barely a mention in school textbooks, even in Hindi-speaking states. Most people have only heard of the language through movies and television. While English is taught in schools from the standard level, Hindi is rarely taught in schools, especially from higher grades.

Hindi became an official language of India in 1950 and since then it has been on a continuous march to become the “most popular language of the nation”. Hindi Day is an annual celebration held on 11 September on the occasion of Hindi’s 150th anniversary. 

It is celebrated every year in cities and towns across the country and a large number of public and private events take place to mark this day. It is believed that there are more than a billion speakers of Hindi.

Hindi was born as a variant of Sanskrit. In course of time, it developed into an independent language with its own dialects. It is the most widely used language of the Indian subcontinent. Hindi derives most of its vocabulary from Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic languages. Hindi developed a script of its own from the 16th century and the first publication in the Devanagari script was done in 1822.

Hindi was originally written with the script of the Sanskrit language. After 1822, when the first Devanagari edition was published, the script was revised and the Hindi language became available in a standardized form. The Hindi alphabet has 26 letters in contrast to the 26 letters of the Devanagari script and all 26 letters of the alphabet have the same form as in English. After 1822, the language continued to evolve and over the centuries the modern form of Hindi has become distinctive.

The language has many dialects and varieties with its own sets of written scripts. These include Awadhi, Bundeli, Bhasa, Braj, Bundi, Buxar, Garhwali, Gaya, Hindi, Kumaoni, Maithili, Malawi, Mahajani, Marwari, Nagari, Nimadi, Pahari, Panjabi, Rajasthani, Saraswat, Saurashtra, Shilahari, Sindhi, Tharu, Western Hindi, Western Odia, and Western Punjabi. The script written in each language is its official script.

Devanagari was the standard script of Sanskrit and it was used to write Marathi from 1534 onwards. Marathi became a separate language in the mid-19th century. It is written using the Devanagari script and, like other Indian languages, is largely a Brahmic language.

In the eastern part of India, Gujarati was written in the Gujarati script. After 1820 the script became the official script of the government of the Bombay Presidency. It was followed by another Bengali script called Gaurī and was used for the official script of the Calcutta Presidency from 1787. 

Gaurī was replaced by Bengali script from 1874 and it was later used for the official script of East Bengal and the present state of Bangladesh. The Bengali script was written in a modified form with new letters which were borrowed from Devanagari.

Gujarati, Bengali, and Assamese were Brahmic languages. Sanskrit was different from them in that it had two scripts. The standard script, called Devanagari, was used in the west, whereas Brahmī script, called the Nīlakṣmī script, was used in the east.

Javanese and Sundanese scripts used for writing Malay, Dutch, and English are based on Brahmic script. The Malay script, called Batak, was based on Brahmic script. It was used to write Malay and Makassarese. It was influenced by Latin. 

The Javanese script, called Sunda Batara, was a modification of Malay script and was used for Javanese and Indonesian. The Sunda Batara script was also influenced by Roman script. The Makassarese script is not influenced by the Roman script and is more similar to the Javanese script.

The Assamese script is also based on Brahmic script. It was used to write the Assamese language and was influenced by Javanese script and Brahmic script. The Brahmic script was used to write Hindi in different forms. 

The modern form of the Hindi script, called Devanagari, is derived from the Brahmic script. It is similar to the Gujarati script and Sanskrit script. Devanagari is called "bhasa parochin" or the "new script" in Hindi. A Devanagari-based variant, called Nagari script, is used for writing Hindi in North India. It is used for modern Hindi. It was developed by Hindi writer, poet, and scholar Bijit Kumar Bhattacharya (1882–1931).

Highlights 

In the Constitution of India, Hindi, written in Devanagari script, was adopted as the official language of the country under Article 343 in 1949. Apart from being the ancient, rich, and simple language of the world, Hindi is also our national language. The Hindi Diwas, celebrated on 14th September every year, is a way to cherish Indian culture and pay respect to the Hindi language. It was decided by the Constitution on 14th September 1949 to make Hindi the national language of India. Keeping in mind the importance of this decision and promoting Hindi in every field, it was decided in 1953 to celebrate September 14th as Hindi Diwas every year throughout India. Since then, every year on 14th September, Hindi Diwas is celebrated in India so that we Indians understand our duty and respect our mother tongue Hindi. To encourage people towards Hindi, a ceremony is organized on Hindi Day in which prizes are given to those who use and promote Hindi during their work. 

Awards 

Some of the names of the awards are- Rajbhasha Gaurav Award and Rajbhasha Kirti Award.

1. The Rajbhasha Gaurav Award is given to any Indian citizen writing in the subject of technology or science. Souvenirs are also given to all those who receive this award. Its basic objective is to advance the Hindi language in the field of technology and science.

2. The Rajbhasha Kirti Award is given to limited departments, for their best work done in Hindi.

Importance of Hindi 

Many litterateurs tried to establish Hindi as the national language. In 1919, Gandhiji had asked to make Hindi the national language in Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. After independence, there was a lot of discussion on the question of which language should be made the national language in 1949. Finally, it was decided by the Indian Constituent Assembly that the national language of the Union would be Hindi. However, when Hindi was introduced as the national language, non-Hindi-speaking states opposed it and demanded the status of the national language to English as well. Due to this, English also had to be given the status of the national language. Thus, both Hindi and English became the national languages ​​of India.

Celebration

Hindi Diwas reminds us of our true identity and unites the people of the country. Hindi Diwas is a day that inspires us to have a sense of patriotism. Hindi Diwas is celebrated every year to emphasize the importance of Hindi and to promote it among every generation. Hindi diwas is celebrated in schools, colleges, etc. Hindi Diwas is also celebrated at the national level. On this day, the President of the country gives awards to those who have excelled in any field related to the Hindi language. Students are taught to have respect for Hindi and the use of the Hindi language. Debate competitions, poetry competitions, story competitions, speech competitions, etc. are organized in schools and colleges on this day, besides other programs are also presented. Teachers also give speeches to emphasize the Hindi language. Many schools have a Hindi essay competition. On this day, women wear saris and men wear kurta pajamas which is the Indian dress.

Conclusion

Many writers, including Mahatma Gandhi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Seth Govind Das, etc. worked tirelessly to make Hindi the official language. After attaining independence, Hindi was given the status of an official language due to these efforts. However, at present, the Hindi language is not being given much importance. People are giving more importance to the English language than Hindi, due to which English has had a great impact on Hindi and many words of Hindi have been replaced by English. Hindi has been made the official language but the purpose with which it was made a national language has not been achieved. Therefore, we should understand our duty to appreciate Hindi and respect it. Today, a lot of attention is paid to foreign languages, but no special attention is given to the Hindi language. We should not forget the Hindi language. Hindi is our national language, we should respect our national language because Hindi reflects our culture and civilization. Celebrating Hindi Diwas is an effort to promote the Hindi language.