Hindi Diwas 2021: History, significance, other interesting facts about Hindi language
Hindi Diwas 2021: India celebrates Hindi Diwas today, observed every year on September 14. National Hindi Divas or Hindi Day is observed to promote Hindi as the 'Matra Bhasha' or mother tongue of India. The day is a celebration of the Hindi language and its cultural heritage and values among the people of the country and abroad. Various Hindi literary festivals, Hindi poetry sessions, Hindi essary writing competitions and speech contests are organised around the nation and beyond to celebrate Hindi Diwas.
Why do we celebrate National Hindi Diwas?
The Constituent assembly of India adopted Hindi as the official language of the country on September 14, 1949 under Article 343. It started being observed as Hindi Day after stalwarts like Beohar Rajendra Simha, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das lobbied hard for the cause. Hindi language is spoken by as many as 250 million people as the original language and it is the fourth language of the world.
Interesting Facts
- Hindi is also spoken in Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Nepal
- English words including avatar, bungalow, guru, jungle, khaki, karma, loot, mantra, nirvana, punch, pyjamas, sorbet, shampoo, thug, typhoon and yoga, are borrowed from Hindi.
- Letters of Hindi alphabet have own independent and distinct sound. Hindi script is phonetic, which is why words are pronounded exactly as they are written.
- Hindi got its name from the persian word 'Hind' meaning "land of the Indus River".
- In the year 1881, Bihar replaced Urdu with Hindi as its sole official state language and thus became the first Indian state to adopt Hindi.
- On September 14, 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi as the official language of the newly formed nation.
- The first Hindi Typewriters were made in the 1930s.
