HINDI-HISTORY
Hindi is a modern Indo-Aryan language (belonging to the family of greater Indo-European languages) and is a descendent of Sanskrit, the earliest speech of the Aryan settlers in the north-west frontiers of India. Passing through various stages of evolution over the period of time -- from Classical Sanskrit to Pali-Prakrit and Apabhransha, the emergence of Hindi in its earliest form can be traced back to the 10th century A.D. (Bhandarkar 1929, Chatterji 1960). Hindi, sometimes, is also refered to as Hindavi, Hindustani and Khari-Boli. Hindi written in Devanagari script (which is the most scientific writing system among the existig writing systems of the world) is the National Official Language of the Republic of India and is ranked as the Òthird most widely spoken languges of the worldÓ (Bhatia 1996). In addition, Hindi is also the state language of the state of Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Approximately six hundred million people across the globe speak Hindi as either a first or second language. The literary history of Hindi can be traced back to the twelfth century and in its modern incarnation Hindi has an approximately three hundred year old, well attested rich literary and grammatical tradition.
T
hree distinct phases in the development of Indo-Aryan languages have been suggested by the cholars.They are : (a) the Ancient (2400 BC - 500 BC), (b) the Medieval (500 BC - 1100 AD) and (c) the Modern (1100 - ). The ancient period is the period of the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit which resulted in the evolution of Pali, Prakrit and Apabhransha langauges during the medieval period. Most of the modern Indo-Aryan languages of south Asia, like Hindi, Bangla, Oriya, Gujrati, Nepali, Marathi, Panjabi, evolved in the 'modern' period.
It is very difficult to say as to when exactly Hindi as a language came into picture and acholars are divided in their opinion on this issue. But the trace of Hindi is obvious in the langauge of the Siddh saints of century 8 - 9 AD. Noted Hindi scholar Acharya Ramchandra Shukla begins his description of the history of Hindi literature ('Hindi Sahitya ka Itihas'). In order to make their teaching easily undestandable to the common ordinary people, the kind of language Siddha saints used is can undoubtedly be called the one of the authentic earliest forms of Hindi. We can also find the glimpse of early Hindi in the langauge of the Jain poets (like Hemchandra and Dharma Suri), Vidyapati, Abdurrehman Khankhana and Swayambhu. The more stablished form of Hindi (the 'khari boli') is visible in the creations of Sharfuddin, Khusro, Banda Niwaz Gailurdaz, Wjahi Ali, Sultan Kuli Qutabshah, Shah Turab etc.
The modern Hindi and its literary tradition evolved towards the end of the 18th century. Fort William College was established in Calcutta by the British East India Company (we need not discuss the reasons for the establishment of this educational institution here). The principle of this college John Gilchrist wrote a grammar of and compiled a dictionary of Hindi to teach and train the BEIC employees the Hindi language. Some newpapers and journals were published in Hindi around that time, many of them were confiscated by the British government (for alleged anti British propaganda). The first Hindi newspaper 'Udant Martanda' was published in 1826 from Calcutta. At the same time, authors like Raja Shivprasad Sitare Hind and Raja Lakshman Singh had established new trends in Hindi literature. Later on, Hindi became the national symbol in the fight against the British colonial rule. Maany Indian leaders (including Ganshiji), revolutionaries, poets and reformists resorted to Hindi to propagate their ideology.
After after independence (Aug 15, 1947), the new constitution was adopted in India on January 26, 1950 which granted to Hindi the status of the Official Language of the Republic of India. Today Hindi is world's third most spoken language and is spreading all over the world. In the era of technological advancements and the 'global village', Hindi assums much importance as it is spoken by a large number of people all across the globe. With liberalized economy and opening of the Indian frontiers to the world market, there is increased interest in the learning and teaching of Hindi.
PRAKRIT
Prakrit languages, (
from Sanskrit: prākṛta, “arising from the source, occurring in the source”) MiddleIndo-Aryan languages known from inscriptions, literary
works, and grammarians’ descriptions. Prakrit languages are related to Sanskrit but differ from and are contrasted
with it in several ways.
First, a distinction is made between speech forms considered to
be correct or standard (referred to as śabda) and those
that are considered incorrect or nonstandard (apaśabda). Forms
called śabda are Sanskrit items and have been
described by grammarians, chiefly Pāṇini (c. 6th–5th century bce);
these forms are language components
that are said to be adorned or purified (saṃskṛta) by
adhering to particular grammatical principles. For example, a form like the
Sanskrit gauḥ ‘cow’ (nominative singular) is
explained by grammarians as composed of a base go- and an ending -s before which the vowel of the base (-o-) is replaced by au; the word-final -s is then replaced by -ḥ because it occurs before a pause.
Alternative terms, such as gāvī, goṇī, gotā, and gopotalikā, are
nonstandard and were thus deemed ineligible for description in Pāṇini’s
grammar. Starting at least with Kātyāyana (4th–3rd century bce),
grammarians have considered the use of standard forms to lead to merit and have
thus distinguished them from coexisting but nonstandard Middle Indo-Aryan
usage. In addition, Patañjali(2nd century bce)
and others held that nonstandard forms are corruptions (apabhraṃśa ‘falling away’) of acceptable correct
forms (see Apabhramsha language).
The Sanskrit name for Prakrit, prākṛta, is derived
from the Sanskrit prakṛti ‘original matter, source.’ There are
two major views concerning the way in which Sanskrit and Prakrit are
associated. One holds that the original matter in question is the speech of the
common people, unadorned by grammar, and that prākṛta thus refers to vernacular usage in
contrast to the elevated register of Sanskrit usage. This is one of several
views noted, for example, by Nami Sadhu (11th century ce)
in his commentary on Rudraṭa’s Kāvyālaṅkāra (“Ornaments of Poetry”), a 9th-century
treatise on poetics. It is also the usual explanation accepted by Western
linguists. In contrast, the view most commonly held by Prakrit grammarians
holds that the Prakrit languages are vernaculars that arose from Sanskrit.
These distinct views of the origin of the Prakrit languages are
also associated with cultural differences. Grammarians of Prakrits who assume
that Sanskrit is the source language and formulate rules of change that treat
Prakrit forms as derived from Sanskrit forms act in consonance with the
traditions in which the Sanskrit Vedas have
the highest religio-philosophical status. Indeed, Sanskrit is deemed daivī vāk ‘the speech of the gods’ in such works
as the Kāvyādarśa (“Mirror of Poetry”) of Daṇḍin (6th–7th century). In contrast,
grammarians of the Middle Indo-Aryan language Pali operate simply with Pali terms and do not
derive these from Sanskrit. This is consonant with theBuddhistic tradition, which does not accord the
Vedas and Sanskrit such exalted status. At another extreme, there is the view
espoused by the Jains, who, as noted by Nami Sadhu (himself a
Śvetāmbara Jain), consider Ardhamāgadhī, the language of the Jaina canon, to
be the source language for Sanskrit. Modern scholars usually treat Pali and the
languages of the Aśokaninscriptions as early Middle Indo-Aryan languages that are distinct from other Prakrits.
Prakrit vernaculars varied from region to region and were named
accordingly; each vernacular was also associated with particular groups in
literary compositions. The Kāvyādarśa and similar texts distinguish four
major groups, with the identity of each implying a combination of language and
culture: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhraṃśa, and mixed. Of the various Prakrits
recognized—such as Śaurasenī, Gauḍī, and Lāṭī—the highest status was granted to
Māhāraṣṭrī. The dialects of cowherds and such are subsumed under Apabhraṃśa,
which in this scheme is treated as a distinct medium. As the poeticist Daṇḍin
notes in the Kāvyādarśa, this
differs from the term’s technical usage among grammarians, in which apabhraṃśa is opposed to saṃskṛta, as noted
above.
Another scheme, proposed in the 12th-century Vāgbhaṭālaṅkāra (“Vāgbhaṭa’s Poetic Embellishment,”
which actually deals with a broad range of topics in poetic theory), uses a
fourfold division comprising Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhraṃśa, and Bhūtabhāṣā.
This last, otherwise known as Paiśācī, is the language of Guṇāḍhya’s Bṛhatkathā (“Great Collection of Stories”), a
lost text that is the source of the later Bṛhatkathāmañjarī (“Anthology of the Bṛhatkathā”) by the
11th-century Kashmiri Kṣemendra and the Kathāsaritsāgara (“Ocean of Rivers of Tales”) of
Somadeva, also a Kashmiri of the 11th century but later than Kṣemendra.
Furthermore, there is a drama composed entirely in Prakrits, Rājaśekhara’s Karpūramañjarī (9th–10th century), titled after its
heroine Karpūramañjarī.
In general, however, dramas employ both Sanskrit and various
Prakrits. Treatises on drama, starting from Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra (“Treatise on Dramaturgy”; the date of the
text is disputed but possibly 2nd century bce),
specify which language particular characters or classes thereof are to use.
Sanskrit is thus defined as the language of refined, educated, upper-class men,
while women of equal status and refinement are to use Śaurasenī except when
singing verses, in which case they use Māhārāṣṭrī. Māgadhī is used by men
employed in a king’s harem, while other servants of a king use Ardhamāgadhī,
and so forth, with detailed assignments provided for each character type. What
makes this convention particularly noteworthy, however, is that a reversal in
usage is allowed when warranted by circumstances. The most famous example of
this is the fourth act of Kalidasa’sVikramorvaśīya (“Urvaśī Won Through Valour”), where
Purūravas’s switch from Sanskrit to Apabhraṃśa is used to demonstrate his
descent into madness at having lost Urvaśī. Another example is Mālatī’s
switching from Śaurasenī to Sanskrit in the second act of Bhavabhūti’s Mālatīmādhava (“Mālatī and Mādhava”; c. early 8th century). Commentators give
various reasons for this, among them that it is meant to show she is to die
soon, thus changing her essence, or to demonstrate her learned nature.
The use
of different Prakrits for different sorts of personages in dramas doubtless
represents the adaptation to literary convention of different regional
varieties that were vernaculars at one time. Apabhraṃśa too later became a
literary vehicle of its own, in poems associated predominantly with Jain
authors.
PALI
Pāli (पालि)
Pāli is the language of the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism, (the Pāli Canon or the Tipitakain Pāli), which were written in Sri Lanka during the 1st century BC. Pāli has been written in a variety of scripts, including Brahmi, Devanāgarī and other Indic scripts, and also using a version of the Latin alphabet devised by T. W. Rhys Davids of the Pāli Text Society.
The name Pāli means "line" or "(canonical) text", and probably comes from the commentarial traditions, wherein the "Pāli" (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or the vernacular following after it on the manuscript page. There are a number of ways to spell the name of the language: Pali, Pāli, Paḷi, Pāḷi, all four of which are found in textbooks.
Today Pāli is studied mainly by those who wish to read the original Buddhist scriptures, and is frequently chanted in rituals. There are non-religious text in Pāli including historical and medical texts. The main areas where Pāli is studied are Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
SANSKRIT
| Considered to be the oldest language in human history, Sanskrit is the progenitor and inspiration for virtually every language spoken in India. This article traces the origins and history of this venerable language. | ||||||||||||
Sanskrit is considered to be a key element in the Indo-Aryan language superfamily and holds the rank of a classical language, together with other languages such as Classical Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic Hebrew, Chinese and Tamil. The conferring of the title of a "classical" follows the fulfillment of certain requirements from the language in question :
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Sanskrit has a similar position in India to that of Latin and Greek in Medieval Europe, and is a central part of Hindu/Vedic traditions. In its pre-classical form, called Vedic Sanskrit, Sanskrit is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family. The oldest example of Sanskrit literature available is the Rigveda. However, while the age of 3,000 years is a very conservative estimate based on the dating on the earliest found manuscript written in Sanskrit, it has been postulated that an oral tradition was extensively used for several centuries before the penning of religious works like the Rigveda was undertaken. | ||||||||||||
The word "samskrata", in the strictest sense, means "purified, consecrated, sanctified". Sanskrit, usually referred to as "Samskrata Vāk", would mean a "refined language". Sanskrit has, by definition, always been considered to have been a language chiefly employed for religious and scientific discourse and is assumed to have contrasted with the languages spoken by the people. The oldest surviving example of the tabulations of the rules of Sanskrit grammar is Panini's "Astadhyavi" (literally translating to "Eight-Chapter Grammar") dated to have been written around the 5th century BC. The "Astadhyavi" is essentially a prescriptive set of grammarian principles, which defines (rather than describes) the correct usage of Sanskrit. However, it is replete with descriptive sections, chiefly to account for those Vedic forms of Sanskrit which had already phase out by the time Panini wrote the book. | ||||||||||||
| It has always been believed that Sanskrit was created and then refined over many generations, typically over more than a thousand years, until it was considered complete and perfect in all respects. Sanskrit was not conceived as a specific language set apart from other languages, but as a particularly refined manner of speaking. This could analogized to the same relation that "Standard" English bears with respect to dialects of English spoken around the world. The current form of the language is believed to have evolved out of the earlier "Vedic" form of Sanskrit and certain scholars often classify Vedic Sanskrit and Classical Sanskrit as separate languages. However, both forms of Sanskrit bear remarkable degrees of similarity with each other, with points of difference occurring mostly in the areas of phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. | ||||||||||||
| Vedic Sanskrit is titled so due to its usage in the Vedas, the earliest sacred texts of India and the foundations of Hinduism. The earliest of the Vedas, the Rigveda, is estimated to have been composed in the 2nd millennium BC. The Vedic form of Sanskrit existed as a primary language until the middle of the first millennium BC. It is assumed that Sanskrit made the transition from the state of a primary language to the form of a second language of religion and learning after this period, thus marking the initiation of the Classical Period in Sanskrit's history. Another form of Sanskrit that developed in the same period has been titled Epic Sanskrit and is evident in the language employed in the Mahabharata and other prominent Hindu epics. Epic Sanskrit employs a higher number of "prakritisms" (borrowed words from common speech) than from the more refined form of Classical Sanskrit. Another form of the language discovered by linguistic scholars is called "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit". Essentially a Prakrit language form, the language is replete with Sanskritized elements, which are assumed to have been used for the purposes of ornamentation of the language. | ||||||||||||
| The word "Prakrit" (Prakrta in Sanskrit translates to "natural, usual") refers to the broad family of the Indic languages and dialects spoken in ancient India. The Prakrits were literary languages, generally patronized by king. The earliest extant usage of Prakrit available are the inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka, with the various Prakritic languages intimately associated with different patron dynasties and kingdoms, along with different religions and different literary traditions. | ||||||||||||
| A strong relationship is evident between the various forms of Sanskrit and the Middle Indo-Aryan "Prakrits" (in which, among other things, most early Jain and Buddhist texts are written), and the modern Indo-Aryan languages. The Prakrits are estimated to have been descended from Vedic Sanskrit and its other forms and there is evidence of a large degree of mutual interchange of terms, words and phrases between later forms of Sanskrit and that various Prakrits that evolved. Sanskrit has also exhibited reciprocal influences with the Dravidian languages, with the influences of Sanskrit imprinted in every Dravidian language that exists. | ||||||||||||
| The methodology of modern-day linguistic research is largely derivative from the work carried out by the ancient Sanskrit grammarians like Panini. Linguistics widely credits its origins to these Indian grammarians who had attempted to catalog and codify the rules inherent to Sanskrit's proper usage. In fact, European scholarship in Sanskrit, begun by Heinrich Roth and Johann Ernst Hanxleden, preceded the proposal of the Indo-European language family by Sir William Jones, thus playing an important role in the development of Western linguistics. The foundations of modern linguistics employs many forms of the structures evolved in the works of Sanskrit grammarians, with several key terms for compound analysis borrowed from Sanskrit. | ||||||||||||
| Sanskrit literature is informally divided into several zones, as per the literary forms Sanskrit had undertaken both in structure as well as literature. The first period, called the Vedic Period, spans approximately between 2000 BC and 500 BC, Vedic literature forms the basis for the further development of Hinduism. The fours Vedas - Rig, Yajus, Sāma and Atharva, are considered to be keystones in the formation of Hindu philosophy and thought. The Vedas were not written in a stretch and have been compiled over several centuries by thousands of people through the ages. As a result, the Vedas provide an insight into the historical and cultural development of India during this period. In terms of content, the Vedas contain facets encompassing entirely different lines of thought and religious beliefs. The Upanishads form a part of the Vedas, and are firmly philosophical in grounding. | ||||||||||||
| The period between approximately the 12th and the 2nd centuries BC saw the composition of two great Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Both these epics are considered to be collective works, which were penned sometime in the 2nd century BC after continual evolution over centuries of oral tradition. | ||||||||||||
| The Panchatantra was another great collection of stories penned around the year 200 BC. A collection of Sanskrit fables both in prose and verse formats, it is considered to be a political treatise created by the scholar Vishnu Sarma to instruct the young princes of Kashiin the intricacies of political science. Traveling all over the world through Persia and the Southeast Asian sea routes, this collection of fables is considered to be the oldest forms of stories existent in the world and is considered to be the source of many moralistic fables developed in virtually every corner of the world. | ||||||||||||
| Another collection of stories that made an impact all over the world were the Jataka Tales. Although primarily associated with Buddhist traditions and written in Pali, the tales are believed to have evolved from related Sanskrit stories that existed prior to the penning of these tales. The Jataka Tales are assumed to have inspired several other stories in other parts of the world, notably the stories contained in Aesop's Fables, Sindbad the Sailor and The Arabian Nights. | ||||||||||||
| A prime component in Hindu ideology is the Puranas. Traditionally attributed to Vyasa, modern scholars place the framing of this body of work to have initiated between 400 and 1000 AD. The Puranas are an important part of Hindu "Smriti", with comprehensive discussions on varied topics like devotion to God in his various aspects, traditional sciences like Ayurveda, Jyotish, cosmology, and concepts like dharma, karma, reincarnation, among others. Comprising of eighteen puranas divided among three categories titled Brahma Purānās, Vishnu Purānās and Shiva Purānās, they eulogize the three main gods in Hindu consciousness, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the Protector and Shiva the Destroyer. | ||||||||||||
| India has a rich tradition of theatrical arts, which contrary to the beliefs of some scholars, was not born out of the Greek invasions of India. Theatre has existed as an indigenous institution at least since the Vedic period in Sanskrit history. | ||||||||||||
| Vedic drama owed its origins to religion. The Yama-Yami episode in the Rig-Veda for instance presents one of the earliest forms of drama in Indo-European literature. Drama eventually developed into a tradition that was independent of religious ritual. Despite latter-day Hellenistic influences, Sanskrit plays often greatly differed from their Greek counterparts with respect to the nature of the plays, which ranged from tragedy to light comedy. Dramatists often recreated pre-existing mythological or historical themes to form new works. | ||||||||||||
| Some of Sanskrit's most famous Sanskrit dramatists include Sudraka, Bhasa, Asvaghosa and Kalidasa. Some of Sanskrit's greatest plays are Sudraka's "Mriccha Katika" (assumed to have been written in the 2nd century BC); "Swapna Vasavadattam" and "Pratijna Yaugandharayaanam" by Bhasa, a playwright considered second only to Kalidasa; and "Vikramorvashiyam", "Malakavikagnimitram" and "Abhijnana Shakuntalam" by Sanskrit literature's greatest playwright, Kalidasa. | ||||||||||||
| The writer Bharata composed a keystone in Sanskrit literature which laid down broad guidelines for the way the forms of music, dance, literature and theater are and should be expressed. Titled "Natyashastra", it also is credited with the establishment of the nine "Rasas", emotions that could find artistic expressions. | ||||||||||||
| Several works of poetry developed between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD utilized the most creative forms of Sanskrit, in the most stylistic literary accents. The greatest works of poetry in the history of Sanskrit literature have been stated to be "Kumarasambhavam" and "Raghuvamsham" by Kalidasa, "Kiratarjuniya" by Bharavi, "Shishupala Vadha" by Sri Maagha and "Naishadiya Charitam" by Sri Harsha. In this period, the first novel in Sanskrit was also written by Bana Bhatta who titled his work "Kadambari". | ||||||||||||
| Another significant work that arose in the 11th century was the "Katha Saritsagara" a poetic adaptation of an earlier work in the Paischali dialect titled "Brihat Katha". This work inspired several stories within "The Arabic Nights" and is best known to children across India for the "Vikram aur Betaal" stories this anthology contained. | ||||||||||||
| After the 11th century, the development of Sanskrit literature considerably declined due to the rise of derivative languages like Hindi, Bengali and other languages. However, the influence of Sanskrit in the literary cultures in these languages is very evident, with earlier works in Sanskrit constantly undergoing reinvention and reinterpretation over subsequent ages. | ||||||||||||
| Today, Sanskrit is mostly used as a ceremonial language, in hymns and mantras. But the evidences of Sanskrit still exists underneath the national consciousness of modern India. Bengali and Marathi still retain a largely Sanskrit vocabulary base. The national anthem, "Jana Gana Mana" is composed in an extremely Sanskritized form of Bengali. The national song, "Vande Mataram" originally a poem taken from the book "Anandmath" written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is in pure Sanskrit like a tribute to the mother of all the Indian languages today. | ||||||||||||
In the present scenario, Sanskrit is considered by many scholars to be a dead language. But Sanskrit continues to display the same amount of persistence it had displayed across these many millennia. The Government of India actively promotes Sanskrit as a third language throughout the primary education system and modern scholars across oceans now have begun to study and encourage conversations in Sanskrit, among a steadily growing student community. It seems manifest that Sanskrit will endure and bridge across centuries to live on in the consciousnesses of future generations of humanity.TAMIL
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