WORLD HINDI DAY:  10th January is celebrated as World Hindi Day to promote the use of Hindi language at the international level. It was started by Manmohan Singh in the year 2006. Since then, World Hindi Day is being celebrated every year. This time the theme of this special day is 'Global voice of unity and cultural pride'. Hindi is currently the third most spoken language in the world. Hindi is originally derived from Sanskrit language. Here we are telling how Hindi originated from Sanskrit and it became the language of crores of people leaving Sanskrit behind.

Sanskrit originated in the northern part of India. It is a very ancient language. It is considered to be the basic language of the Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit is also called Devbhasha. It is believed that other Indian languages ​​like Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada have originated from Sanskrit.

How did Hindi emerge?

Vedic Sanskrit was used in India between 1500 BC and 1000 BC. All the four Vedas and Upanishads are written in this language. After this, secular Sanskrit emerged. Pali language emerged from secular Sanskrit. Gautam Buddha's messages are found in Pali language only. Prakrit language emerged from Pali. Hindi was created from Awahattha, the Apabhramsha (corrupted form of language) of Pali. The history of Hindi is believed to be about a thousand years old. Apabhramsha languages ​​started being used in literature around 1000 AD. 

Hindi developed from three Apabhramshas

Linguist Bholanath Tiwari has mentioned five types of Apabhramsha on regional basis. Shauraseni (Intermediate), Magadhi (Eastern), Ardhamagadhi (Central Eastern), Maharashtri (Southern), Vrachaad-Paishachi (North Western). According to Bholanath Tiwari, Hindi developed from three forms of Apabhramsha: Shauraseni, Magadhi and Ardhamagadhi.

Three periods of Hindi history

The development of Hindi language is divided into three periods. Ancient period, medieval period, and modern period. The ancient period is considered to be from 1000 AD to 1500 AD. During this period, poems were composed and Raso texts were written. After this, the period between 1500 AD to 1900 AD is considered to be the medieval period. It is also called Bhakti period. During this period, a lot was written about devotion to God in regional dialects. The modern period began in the 19th century, in which a lot of prose was written. During the British period, Hindi played an important role in uniting the people of the country and the Constituent Assembly declared Hindi as the official language of India on 14 September 1949. For this reason, National Hindi Day is celebrated on 14 September. At the same time, World Hindi Day is celebrated on 10 January.

Contribution of Bhartendu Harishchandra

Indian literature was earlier written in Sanskrit. However, Hindi became popular among the common people. Literature in Hindi started being written after 1200 AD. However, till this time only poems were written. Amir Khusro wrote the first poem in Hindi. Bharatendu Harishchandra is considered the father of Hindi prose. He started writing prose from 1850 and also inspired other writers to write prose. Some scholars believe that the first authentic prose work of Hindi literature is the novel 'Pariksha Guru' written by Lala Srinivasdas.