More than 180 million people in India regard Hindi as their mother tongue. Another 300 million use it as second language. Outside of India, Hindi speakers are 100,000 in USA; 685,170 in Mauritius; 890,292 in South Africa; 232,760 in Yemen; 147,000 in Uganda; 5,000 in Singapore; 8 million in Nepal; 20,000 in New Zealand; 30,000 in Germany. Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, spoken by about 41 million in Pakistan and other countries, is essentially the same language
Literature in Hindi languages (Hindi: हिन्दी साहित्य) includes literature in the various Central Zone Indo-Aryan languages which have writing systems. It is broadly classified into four prominent forms (styles) based on the date of production. They are; * Vir-Gathas (poems extolling brave warriors) – 11th–14th century * Bhakti era poems (devotional poems) – 14th–18th century * Riti or Srngar poems (poems of romance) – 18th–20th century * Adhunik literature (modern literature) – 20th century onwards
The literature was produced in dialects such as Braj, Bundeli, Awadhi, Kannauji, Khariboli, Marwari, Angika, Vajjika, Maithili, Magahi and Bhojpuri.[1] From 20th century, works produced in Standard Hindi, a register of Hindustani, is sometimes regarded as the only basis of modern literature in Hindi.[2]
Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, is a standardised and sanskritised register of the Hindustani language (Hindi-Urdu) that is associated with the Hindu religion. Hindustani is the native language of people living in Delhi, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, northeastern Madhya Pradesh, and parts of eastern Rajasthan,[4] and Hindi is one of the official languages of India
Hindi literature is broadly divided into four prominent forms or styles, being Bhakti (devotional –