World Hindi Day | 11 Jan 2020
World Hindi Day is celebrated every year on January 10 to promote the Hindi language all around the world.
- It was first celebrated in 2006 to commemorate the anniversary of the first World Hindi Conference which was held in Nagpur on January 10, 1975.
- World Hindi Day is also celebrated by Indian embassies located in various parts of the world.
- World Hindi Day is different from Hindi Divas which is celebrated on September 14 every year.
Hindi
- Hindi got its name from the Persian word Hind, meaning 'land of the Indus River'. Turk invaders in the early 11th century named the language of the region Hindi, 'language of the land of the Indus River'.
- It is the official language of India, English being the other official language.
- Hindi is also spoken in some countries outside India, such as in Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Nepal.
- Hindi in its present form emerged through different stages, during which it was known by other names. The earliest form of old Hindi was Apabhramsa. In 400 AD Kalidas wrote a romantic play in Apabhramsa called Vikramorvashiyam.
- The modern Devanagari script came into existence in the 11th century.