Indian Languages #5: Rise of Hindi

The rise of Hindi. How and why did it happen? When languages clash for dominance, writes Peggy Mohan in Wanderers, Kings and Merchants, here is how things proceed.

“Hindi, Braj and Awadhi did not sit down at a table to resolve their differences, shaping themselves into a single language with the best features of all… Like nature (the fight) is red in tooth and claw.”

 

Braj and Awadhi were older languages, with literature of their own. And yet Hindi won. Why?

“There is nothing like being situated in a large urban center of commerce and political power (i.e., Delhi) to give a language an edge, even if the inner circle is speaking something else.”

British rule then sealed the dominance of Hindi:

“In British times, Hindi began its growth as a modern language of literacy, all the languages spoken in its sphere of political influence declared their loyalty.”

Inevitably then:

“As the size of the (Hindi) shadow grew, more and more of the one-time competitors found themselves relegated to being seen as ‘dialects of Hindi’.”

 

This relegation to be considered “dialects of Hindi” has resulted in weird mis-identifications that continue to this day. For example, Bhojpuri is now considered an eastern dialect of Hindi and not as a Magadhan relative of Bengali, Assamese and Odiya. Similarly, Marwari is thought of as a Rajasthani dialect of Hindi rather than a dialect of Gujarati, which it resembles far more.

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