Language and Literature of Haryana

The state of Haryana is known for its glorious past and wealthy present. The world famous Mahabharata war and three Battles of Panipat were fought on this land only. Both these battles have shaped the political, administrative and religious aspects of Haryana. It was the battle of Panipat which have shaped the political history of not only the state of Haryana but also of the whole India. On the other hand the battle of Mahabharata gave us the base of our religious beliefs and domain as it was this battle only which gave us our most pious religious book,The Geeta. The battle of Mahabharata was fought here at Kurukshatra, where Lord Krishna preached the message of Geeta. Therefore we can say that the Land of Haryana is sound in the field of literature since ancient times.

Language :

If we study language of Haryana the First and the most important thing is that the basis of the formation of this States was non other than the language. Traditionally Haryanvi has been the dominant mother tongue of the people of Haryana, with Standard Hindi being spoken as a second language. Language Haryanvi has no officialstatus niether any script, infact it uses the dialect of Hindi thus Hindi is the official language and the most commonly spoken language in the state. It was the Punjabi Suba movement that had led to formation of Haryana after being carved out of the State of Punjab. Bansi Lal thought, "Let any language other than Punjabi be the second language of the state". Hence, Tamil became the second state language even though there might not have been even a single Tamil native family in the state.Since 1947, Punjabi has been spoken by many people in Haryana especially by those Hindus and Sikhs who migrated from West Punjab, following the Partition of India. As such, Punjabi edged out Tamil as the secondary official language of the state, other than Hindi and English, in 2010. Punjabi speakers account for 11% of the state's population.

The most striking feature of Haryana is its language itself or, rather, the manner in which it is spoken. Popularly known as Haryanavi it is the language of the Jat peoples of Haryana. With Bangaru, spoken in the Heart of Haryana, being the most widely spoken dialect. Bagri is the second largest dialect of Hindi spoken in Haryana largely in Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hissar. The language in main Gurgaon and surrounding villages has a slight Rajasthani touch towards the end of the sentence due to the proximity to the Rajasthan state and the dialect spoken in this district is regarded as the most polite and civilised of all in Haryana.And Ahirwati spoken in Ahirwal belt. With rapid urbanization, and due to Haryana's close proximity to Delhi, the cultural aspects are now taking a more modern hue.

The Name Haryana :

The name Haryana may be derived from the Sanskrit words Hari (the Hindu god Vishnu) and ayana (home), meaning "the Abode of God". However, scholars such as Muni Lal, Murli Chand Sharma, HA Phadke and Sukhdev Singh Chib believe that the name comes from a compound of the words Hari (Sanskrit Harit, "green") and Aranya (forest). Dr. Budh Prakash opines that the name may be a corruption of "Abhira yana", as its ancient inhabitants were called "Ahirs" and ruled Haryana under the Moguls.

There are different vievs regarding the nomenclature of Haryana .Haryana is ei ther from Haryali or Hawar i.e Loot maar or Robbery or from Harinathak or Haryana. Even people say the word Haryana depicts the greenland of Haryana symbolising the large scale agricultural production of Haryana. The state of Haryana has beenalways known for its massive agricultural production and self sufficiency of Haryana to meet the agricultural requirement of the state. Though in olden days Haryana was known as Brahmavart Pradesh, Brahmrishi Pradesh and Uttarvedi of Brahma.

The Bhagwat Geeta: A pious gift from Haryana

Haryana is a unique state in terms of literary activities as well. It was this land only where the Bhagwat Geeta was not only spoken but also written here. It wont be wrong to say that all the Hindus owe their most sacred religious book i.e The Geeta to the land of Haryana.It gives us the ultimate Philosophy that every human being can adopt to relieve himself off the agonies of birth and death. It is the supreme sermon of Lord Vishnu,which must be read and imbibed in letter and spirit. The Bhagwat Geeta is the most widely read and revealed religious text of the world. The state of Haryana is proud of the fact that this legendary epic was orated by Lord Krishna at Jyotisar.kurukshetra, which is located here.Further, it was also compiled by Ved Vyasa on the bank of the river Saraswti, which was once a perennial river of this state. Hence, the greatest pholosophy of life is associated with Haryana because Lord Krishna had given the supreme semon to arjun on this land.

The poem is long poem, which, in fact, describes the gist of life,Karma, and duties of an individual.Lord krishna narrates to Arjuna how he should do his duties and became a part of the ultimate should do his duty and became a part of ultimate soul. This poem forms the sixteen chapters (Adhyayas) of the Mahabharata written by Veda Vyasa. It is in the form of Sanskrit hymns (shlokas). The entire Epic is written in Sanskrit,the language of the Aryan race during tha historic times.It is the longest epic of the world.

LITERARY DEVELOPMENT OF HARYANA :
Haryana has a rich heritage of culture and literature through all the ages.

THE MEDIEVAL AGE :

It is believed that Chand bardai and Surdas were the products of Haryana.Chand bardai became immortal by writting Pritvi Raj Raso while Surdas wrote Sur Sagar. Further Sant Haridas , Kavi Maldev, Jain poet Sunderdass,Nischal Das ,Banwari Das , Kavi Ummed etc are famous literateurs of hindi language.These sages and port have enriched hindi literature to the maximum extent with the help of their literary work. Among the Muslim saints, the nemes of Sheikh Abdul Qadoos, Sannat Sadullah, Sheikh Bahaudin Chisti, Nur Mohammad and Jan Kavi Jisno may be recalled. These poets and writters wrote in Brig and Hindi and contributed to the world of Hindi Literature.

THE PRE INDEPENDENCE ERA :

During the rule of the british, the residents of the unified state of Punjab struggled to liberate the nation from the clutches of the britishers.So, the literary activities activities suffered a setback for this time. However one poet of Urdu, made his mark during this period, his name was Khwaja Altaaf Husain Haali.He was a famous poet, prolific scholar and Urdu critic, born in District Panipat of Haryana. He had a good knowledge of Urdu, Persian and Arabic. His prose and poetical work were Tiriya ke Masmoon, Majaalis Ulnisa, Mazaamine-e-Haali, Haayaat-e-Saadi, Muqadam-e-Sher-o-Shairi,Yaadgar-e-gaalib, Deewan-e-Haali, and Roobaiyat.

His work Muqadam-e-Sher-o-Shairi,Yaadgar-e-gaalib,written as a preface to his collection of poetry.Mohammad Sarwar caled it "the first menifesto of Urdu poetry". In all he composed116 gazals which consist of about 1300 shers.

THE MODERN ERA :

Deedar Singh, Bhai Santokh Singh, Sahib Singh Mrigendra,Bagg Singh,Ujjawal Singhand Joginder singh are some of the literary personalities of Haryana. They wrote in hindi, punjabi and urdu. Bishambar Nath Kaushik was born in Ambala cantonement. Pt. Neki Ram Sharma was from Bhiwani who started the magazine Sandesh in Hindi. Tulsi Ram Sharma from Bhiwani wrote Shyam Satsai and Satyagrahi,Prahlad.The first ever state poet was Uday Bhanu Hans. Bhai Parmanad was a renowed poet from Hissar, also took active part in Bhoodan Movement.

Geminey Haryanvi contributed to Haryanvi Literature. He wrote couplets and and poems. Thus we can say that History of Haryana is full of valuable literature.

By: Harman Sandhu