History Of Hindustani
History of HINDUSTANI (Hindi & Urdu) can be divided into following stages:-
1 Antiquity (Prakrits)
2 Middle Ages
3 Islamic empires
4 Colonial period
5 Post-Partition
Antiquity (Prakrits)
600 BCE: late Vedic Sanskrit.
500 BCE: Prakrit texts of Buddhists and Jains originate (Eastern India)
400 BCE: Panini composes his formal Sanskrit grammar (Gandhara), reflecting transition from Vedic to formal Paninian (Classical) Sanskrit
322 BCE: Brahmi script inscriptions by Mauryas in Prakrit (Pali)
250 BCE: first records of Classical Sanskrit. [Vidhyanath Rao]
100 BCE-100 CE: Sanskrit gradually replaces Prakrit in inscriptions
320: The Gupta or Siddha-matrika script emerges.
Middle Ages
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.
933: Shravakachar of Devasena, considered the first Hindi book.
1100: Modern Devanagari script emerges
1145-1229: Hemachandra writes on Apabhramsha grammar
Islamic empires
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
FROM HERE THE STANDARD DIALECT STARTED
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.
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)
1805: Lalloo Lal’s Premsagar , published for Fort William College, Calcutta
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
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
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”)
1936: Kamayani, the most celebrated Hindi epic poem, written by Prasad
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.
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.
1985-6: Devanagari word processor, Devyani DTP software, both from Dataflow.
1987-88: Frans Velthuis creates Devanagari metafont.
1990: According to World Almanac and Book of Facts Hindi-Urdu has passed English to become the second most widely spoken language in the world.
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.
1998: Thiru Karunanidhi, the DMK leader, recites a Hindi verse during a political campaign, indicating a change in views.
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