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Sanskrit is regarded as the
oldest of the languages and Hindi rightfully
claims the first off-spring of Sanskrit. The
question arises what language was commonly used
before Sanskrit. What was the linguistic form of
language of the Aryans? We see the language in
Rig Veda but the language of the Rig Veda could
not have been the language of the common people
because its grammar and structure, like Latin,
is difficult to grasp.
The Aryans, to preserve the
purity of the Sanskrit language, maintained
their strict rules of grammar. The common
people, seeing the perplexity of the Sanskrit
language, had no choice but to resort to a
different form of language called ‘Prakritik’
(natural). This language did not have strict
rules of grammar as in Sanskrit and was easy for
the common people to understand and learn. This
differentiation is not only peculiar to Sanskrit
but also to the other ancient languages. Later
on Prakrithik gained its name as ‘Apprabhansh’.
This language saw its zenith from 1,500 B.C. to
500 B.C.
Hindi was developed from ‘Apprabhansha’.
Hindi literature developed into various dialects
like “Mewadi”, “Marwadi”, “Gujarati”, “Brij
Bhasha”, “Kanavji”, “Gadhwali”, “Kamauni”, ”Awadhi”,
”Gundeli”, ”Bagheli” and in the eastern part of
Utter Pradesh and in Bihar “Bhojpuri” and
“Mathili” in Bengal.
Bhojpuri and “Purwi” are
the same language. The language used in the
district of Azamgarh, Basti, Faijabad and
Sultanpur is called “Pachhaan”.
Generally the language
which is used in the district of Arrah, Ballia,
Azamgarh, Gorakhpur, Deoria and between the west
of Bihar and east of Utter Pradesh is Bhojpuri.
The Bhojpuri language is
very melodious. It is written in “Devnagri”
script.
Hindi has to-day become a
lingua franca in India and words from Persian
and even English are commonly used in Hindi. The
Development of Hindi films has also been a
parallel growth of Hindi language. In Singapore
the Hindi language has also seen the
assimilation of Malay words into the language.
Om Prakash Rai
16 October 1977
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