Modern Hindi Literature

Today, 10th September 2015, is the inaugural of the 3 day World Hindi Conference in Delhi.

 This reminds me of an incident. I had been appointed a Judge of the Allahabad High Court in 1991, and the incident happened a few months thereafter.

 My good friend Neelkant, is a Hindi writer and critic of Allahabad ( my native town ). One day he came to meet me at my residence. He had written a book on Rahul Sanskritayan etc, and he wanted me to come as Chief Guest at a function at the Hindustani Academy, Allahabad for its release. I normally avoided going to functions as long as I was a sitting Judge, but since Neelkant is such a fine and loveable person I agreed.

 When I reached the venue there was a huge crowd of about 200 persons or more, ( the capacity of Hindustani Academy hall ) assembled in the audience, many of them literary figures who regarded themselves great writers.. Several speakers spoke, praising modern Hindi literature,and then came my turn.

 I got up and said that I was sorry but I could not agree with most of the speakers who had spoken before me. While Sur, Tulsi, Kabir, etc were no doubt great, modern Hindi literature, with a few rare exceptions like Premchand,  was ' daridra ' and ' ghatiya ' ( i.e. of a low level ) it has no place in world literature, etc. I also said that modern Hindi poetry had no ' dum ' in it, and was no match to Urdu poetry..

 At first the audience was stunned, but gradually as I was speaking an uproar began, which soon reached a crescendo. People in the audience started shouting '' Aise anpadh admi ko kisne judge bana diya '' ( who appointed such an illiterate person as a judge ), '' aap yahan kyon aaye ? '' ( why did you come here ? ), etc.

 I coolly replied that I had come because I had been invited by Neelkant whose book was being released, but no one was prepared to listen to me, and a barrage of invectives and vituperations were soon hurled on me.

 When this crossed the limits of my endurance I said '' You are a bunch of goondas '' and left the hall in a huff.

 Next day many newspapers published accounts of this incident, including my statement that the crowd consisted of a bunch of goondas. The result was, as Neelkant later told me, that there was a huge demand for Neelkant's book, and the first print was soon sold out, and there was a demand for a second edition.

 A few days later Neelkant came to my house and apologized profusely for the misbehaviour of the crowd. I told him not to worry. He should now write another book on modern Hindi literature, and invite me again for the release, where I would again lambast modern Hindi literature, and this would ensure another huge sale of his book !

Think rationally about learning Hindi and it will make sense

I have seen some of the criticism in The Hindu to my article “Required, two tongues” (Op-Ed, September 20, 2012). I am a totally democratic person, and do not mind criticism at all. However, I would like to give my response:

(1) I have said that I am totally opposed to the imposition of Hindi in Tamil Nadu, or anywhere else for that matter. In the function at Anna University in Chennai, where I spoke recently, I advised Tamilians to learn Hindi. After my speech an elderly gentleman got up and said that Tamilians should not be compelled to learn Hindi, and English was good enough to be the link language in India. I replied that I was totally against any compulsion. If my suggestion that Tamilians should learn Hindi made sense to Tamilians, they should accept it, but if it did not make sense to them, they should reject it. Where is the compulsion? It is not fair to distort what I said.

(2) Tamil cannot be compared to Hindi, not because Hindi is superior to Tamil (I hold all languages in equal respect) but because it is much more widespread. Tamil is only spoken in Tamil Nadu, which has a population of 72 million. But Hindi is spoken not only in the Hindi belt, but in most non-Hindi states as a second language. In the Hindi belt there are 200 million people in Uttar Pradesh, 82 million in Bihar, 75 million in Madhya Pradesh, 69 million in Rajasthan, 27 million in Jharkhand, 26 million in Chhattisgarh, 26 million in Haryana, and seven million in Himachal Pradesh. Taking into account Hindi speakers in the non-Hindi belt in India (Punjab, West Bengal, Kashmir, Orissa, Assam and other North Eastern States,Telangana, etc), the number of Hindi speakers would be about 15 times that of Tamil speakers. Apart from that, Pakistanis (who number about 200 million) also speak Hindi, though they call it Urdu. How then can Tamil be compared with Hindi? Tamil is only a regional language, while Hindi is a national language. This is not because Hindi is superior to Tamil, but due to certain historical and social reasons.

(3) English is the link language only for the elite in India, and not for the common man. Anyone coming from Tamil Nadu to other parts of India will realise this. Without knowing Hindi he will experience great difficulty (in fact one of the Tamilian judges in the Supreme Court told me very recently that he had made a great mistake in not learning Hindi since he was finding it difficult in Delhi, but now he has started learning Hindi ). Only about five per cent of Indians know English (though I myself have appealed to people to learn English, since much of the knowledge of the world is in English, and I have strongly criticised those who say “ Angrezi Hatao (abolish English”). In fact Hindi is already the link language for Indians, even for many South Indians, as I had explained in my article.

(4) When I was Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, I once went to a shop in Madurai. To my surprise I heard the Tamilian shopkeeper speaking to someone on the telephone in Hindi. Since I had picked up some Tamil I said to him, “ Romba nalla Hindi pesreenga. Eppadi ? (You are speaking such good Hindi. How is that?”) He replied, “ Arasiyalle Hindi vendaamnu solvaanga, aanaa engalikkubusiness pananum. Adnaal kathukitten . (Politicians say that we do not want Hindi, but we have to do business. So I have learnt Hindi”). I think this shopkeeper had more sense than those who oppose Hindi.

(5) I dislike both Hindi haters as well as those who wish to impose Hindi on Tamil Nadu and other States. The issue should be considered rationally, instead of emotionally. No one can dispute that Tamil is a great language, with great literary works like Tirukkural, Silapathiharam, Manimekhalai, Kambar Ramayanam , and in more recent times, the great poems of the nationalist poet Subramania Bharathi and many others. I fully support the demand that lawyers in the Madras High Court should be allowed to argue in Tamil (except before judges who have come on a transfer from other States), though judgments should be in English so that people from other States can read them. When in the Supreme Court, I would sometimes speak a few sentences in Tamil when a Tamilian lawyer appeared before me. I think I was the first Judge in the history of the Supreme Court to speak in Tamil in court.

I would appeal to Tamilians to once again consider my suggestion that they should learn Hindi. If my suggestion does not make sense, please reject it.

Published in The Hindu on 28th September,2012

Required, two tongues

English and Hindi have irreplaceable roles in national integration and ensuring progress


​Since Hindi Diwas is being celebrated today, I decided to write this article.

​When I was a Judge of Allahabad High Court I would be invited by the High Court Bar Association on the occasion of Hindi Diwas which was celebrated every year in a function inthe Bar Library. I would tell the office bearers of the Bar Association that I would not like to come to the function because what I would say would create a controversy. However, theywould insist and plead that I come and speak.

At the function many speakers would say “Agrezi Hatao”, that is, abolish Hindi from our country. Some would disparagingly describe English as a ‘dasi’ (slave girl).

When my turn came to speak I would tell the audience that if their children did not learn English they would only be fit to drive bullock carts (Hal chalane layak rah jayenge). I said I, too, love Hindi which is my mother tongue but that does not mean I should behave like a fool. All knowledge in the world is in English. If one went to an Engineering college all the the books are in English, similarly all the books in a Medical College are in English. If one wanted to study history, economics, philosophy, science,literature etc the books are all in English. How could one do without English? It is totally stupid to say “Agrezi Hatao”, and only enemies of their children talk like that. In fact we mustspread English more in our country for the country’s progress. So, on the occasion of HindiDiwas I make the same appeal.

However, at the same time I appeal to the people of the non speaking Hindi speakingstates like Tamil Nadu to learn Hindi, because it is the link language in our country. Forinstance, Tamilians face great difficulty when they come out of Tamil Nadu, because they do not know Hindi.

When I met the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu some time back I told her that Tamilians should learn Hindi as it is in their interest to do so. She told me that Tamilians were indeed learning Hindi upto the 1960s, and Hindi was spreading in Tamil Nadu by Hindi films and Hindi Prachar Sabhas. But then some North Indians decided to impose Hindi on the South, and this created a strong reaction, and Tamilians stopped learning Hindi. I told her that it was wrong on the part of some North Indian politicians to try to impose Hindi in the South. This is the age of democracy, and nothing should be imposed. However what has happened has happened, and now my appeal to the people of Tamil Nadu is that they should learn Hindi. Recently I spoke to students of Anna University in Chennai, and advised them to learn Hindi I have received several e-mails from some of the students, who have said that they have started learning Hindi.

In my speech in Anna University I mentioned that when I was Chief Justice of Madras High Court I was invited to a function in Gulbarga, which is in north Karnataka. I flew from Chennai to Hyderabad where I caught a taxi to Gulbarga. The Prof. of Gulbarga Universitywho came to receive me was a Kannada speaking gentleman while the taxi driver was Telugu speaking, but they spoke to each other in Hindi .I was surprised that two South Indians should speak to each other in Hindi. I asked the Prof. for the reason. He said it was because Hindi was their link language. He did not now Telugu, while the taxi driver did not know Kannada, but they both knew Hindi. This shows that Hindi is the link language in much of India. In fact most people even in the non Hindi belt like Punjab, Bengal, Kashmir, North East, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, etc can speak Hindi. Hindi is even spoken in Pakistan, where it is called Urdu. Thus, knowledge of Hindi makes it easy to communicate in much of the Indian sub continent.

On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, I appeal to the people of India to learn Hindi and English, but nothing should be imposed.

(Published in The Hindu on September 20, 2012)