Hindi literature
Hindi literature is composed in three broad styles- prose (गद्य, gadya), poetry (पद्य, padya), and prosimetrum (चंपू, campū).
[citation needed] They are: The literature was produced in languages and dialects such as Khariboli, Braj, Bundeli, Awadhi, Kannauji, as well as Marwari and Chhattisgarhi.
[6] Literature of Adi kal (c. before the 15th century CE) was developed in the regions of Kannauj, Delhi, and Ajmer stretching up to central India.
[7] Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem written by Chand Bardai (1149 – c. 1200), is considered one of the first works in the Bhraj Bhasha literature.
Chand Bardai was a court poet of Prithviraj Chauhan, the famous ruler of Delhi and Ajmer during the invasion of Muhammad of Ghor.
However, after Prithviraj Chauhan's defeat in the Second Battle of Tarain, most literary works belonging to this period were destroyed by the army of Muhammad of Ghor.
Many Dakkhini experts like Sheikh Ashraf or Mulla Vajahi used the word Hindvi to describe this dialect.
The medieval Hindi literature is marked by the influence of Bhakti movement and composition of long and epic poems.
This was also the age of tremendous integration between the Hindu and the Islamic elements in the arts with the advent of many Muslim Bhakti poets such as Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, a minister to the Mughal emperor Akbar and also a great devotee of Krishna.
The Nirgun School of Bhakti Poetry was also tremendously secular in nature and its proponents, including Kabir and Guru Nanak, had a large number of followers, irrespective of caste or religion.
The best known book from this age is the Satsai of Bihari Lal, a collection of Dohas (couplets), dealing with Bhakti (devotion), Neeti (Moral policies) and Shringar (love).
[10] Chandrakanta, written by Devaki Nandan Khatri in 1888, is considered the first authentic work of prose in modern Hindi.
Some of these books were Prem Sagar by Lallu Lal, Naasiketopaakhyan by Sadal Mishra, Sukhsagar by Sadasukhlal of Delhi and Rani Ketaki ki kahani by Munshi Inshallah Khan.
Before Premchand, the Hindi literature revolved around fairy or magical tales, entertaining stories and religious themes.
One of the most prominent poems of the period was Maithili Sharan Gupt's Bharat-bharati, which evokes the past glory of India.
Earnestly concerned with social issues and moral values, it is puritanical poetry in which aesthetic considerations are secondary.
She adds, however, that the period was important for laying the foundations to the modern Hindi poetry and that it did reflect sensitivity to social issues of the time.
A unique feature of this period is the emotional (and sometimes active) attachment of poets with national freedom struggle, their effort to understand and imbibe the vast spirit of a magnificent ancient culture and their towering genius which grossly overshadowed all the literary 'talked abouts' of next seven decades.
[15] Their critical attitude is marked by a synthesis or coordination of various disciplines of human knowledge – philosophy, history, art and culture, all pressed into the service of literary appraisal and analysis.
He was a noted satirist and humorist of modern Hindi literature and is known for his simple and direct style., Sri Lal Sukla, Suryakumar Pandey etc.
[25] Rahul Sankrityayan, Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan, Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Ajneya' and Baba Nagarjun were some of the great Indian writers who dedicated themselves entirely to the Hindi Travel Literature (Yatra Vritanta).
The pioneer of Hindi theatre as well as playwrighting, Bhartendu Harishchandra wrote Satya Harishchandra (1875), Bharat Durdasha (1876) and Andher Nagari (1878), in the late 19th century, Jaishankar Prasad became the next big figure in Hindi playwriting with plays like Skanda Gupta (1928), Chandragupta (1931) and Dhruvswamini (1933).
[26][27] As the Independence struggle was gathering steam playwrights broaching issues of nationalism and subversive ideas against the British, yet to dodge censorship they adapted themes from mythology, history and legend and used them as vehicle for political messages, a trend that continues to date, though now it was employed to bring out social, personal and psychological issues rather than clearly political, though street theatre broke this trend in coming decades in post-independence era, like IPTA-inspired, Naya Theatre of Habib Tanvir did in the 1950s–90s, Jana Natya Manch of Safdar Hashmi did in the 1970s–80s.
[28] Yet we have playwrights like Jagdish Chandra Mathur (Konark) and Upendranath Ashk (Anjo Didi), who displayed a steadily evolving understanding of stagecraft.
These were followed another generation of pioneers in Hindi playwrighting, Mohan Rakesh, who started with Ashadh Ka Ek Din (1958), Adhe Adhure and Lehron Ke Rajhans, Dharamvir Bharati, who wrote Andha Yug, and other playwrights like Surendra Verma, and Bhisham Sahni.
