The national language has transcended boundaries and found enthusiastic takers amongst foreigners, notwithstanding the fact that it is still unable to shed the disparaging tag of a ‘medium that doesn't yield a job' in the country
The anti-Hindi brigade never tires of putting forth the argument that the main impediment to Hindi’s growth and influence is that it cannot ‘fetch’ one a job outside India. This claim apart, it comes as a pleasant surprise to learn that Hindi has transcended boundaries and has found enthusiasts who feel motivated enough to learn the language and delve into the richness of Hindi literature. The motivation could be to explore something really worthwhile or to further career prospects. But whatever the reason, the fact is that today Hindi is finding many takers amongst foreigners, notwithstanding the fact that it is still unable to shed the disparaging tag of ‘language that doesn’t yield a job!’
Consider this: Hindi is taught in close to 25 major universities of the world, including Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, Guangzhou, Seoul, Busan and Tokyo. It made its entry in Tokyo University of Foreign Studies way back in 1908. And as in Tokyo and several other universities, Hindi is taught by the natives, rather than teachers imported from India.
Interestingly, these ‘foreign’ Hindi teachers are very accomplished in their own right, and have done yeoman service to the cause of Hindi with their impressive body of work. One can justifiably hail them as Hindi’s unsung heroes, the foot soldiers, who are selflessly working to promote the language and imparting their knowledge to others.
Take the instance of Hungary-born, Visva Bharati alumnus Imre Bangha. The venerable professor, who is with the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford and teaches Hindi, has done seminal work on the emergence of Hindi (including khari boli) as a literary dialect in various scripts. His research has focussed on early modern Hindi poetry and translations of early modern Hindi texts, the continuity of classical Sanskrit aesthetics in court literature. Of special interest is Mr Bangha’s work on individual poets like Kabir and Tulsidas. His recent book, Madhya Aur Poorvi Urop Europe Main Hindi, has earned rave reviews.
As is well known, Hindi was a big hit in the erstwhile Soviet Union and several East European countries like Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. Bollywood films too contributed their bit to popularise the language there and encouraged people to learn it.
Unfortunately, the community of foreign Hindi teachers has become poorer with the sudden demise of Dr Ronald Stuart McGregor, philologist of the Hindi language, on August 19, 2013. A Fellow of Wolfson College who retired as Reader in Hindi at the University of Cambridge, McGregor was born of Scottish parents in New Zealand, where he took his BA in English. On a scholarship to Oxford, he studied early English philology but then turned to learning Hindi. As a teenager in New Zealand, he had once received a copy of a Hindi grammar book published in neighbouring Fiji, where migrant Indians formed a significant segment of the population. He first visited India in 1959-1960 to study Hindi at the University of Allahabad. In 1968, McGregor’s PhD thesis was published asThe language of Indrajit of Orcha — A Study of Early Braj Bhasa Prose. Indrajit was a minor prince who was a patron of the major poet Keshav Das, but also himself a pioneering writer of prose in Braj bhasha.
McGregor’s works on Hindi and Hindi literature were widely published and well-received. But he is best known as the editor of the Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, a standard reference, published in 1993 after a sustained effort of 20 years. The dictionary reflects the dramatic development of Hindi, both spoken and literary, in the 20th century. It is without doubt McGregor’s best gift to the language he adored, adopted and spoke, better than the Indians themselves, and an essential reference tool for students, scholars, translators, and all others interested in modern Hindi.
Professor Suresh Rituparna, who taught Hindi in Tokyo University, opines that thanks to India’s rich socio-cultural heritage and the religious affinity on account of Gautam Buddha, people in countries like Japan, South Korea, Sri lanka feel inspired to learn Hindi in order to explore more about India and the Buddhist deity.
A former BBC staffer, journalist and writer Gillian Wright, has done remarkable English translations of Srilal Shukla’s Raag Darbari and Raahi Masoom Raza’sAadha Gaon. British by birth and Dilliwali by choice, Ms Wright rues the fact that today it is impossible to find people who have heard of these celebrated writers, forget about holding an intelligent and informed conversation about their works, at an average dinner party in Delhi.
“The latest English novels, on the other hand, are a favourite subject for discussion. But no novel I have ever read in English comes close to capturing life in an ordinary north Indian village, where the rustic fragrance of Uttar Pradesh emanates from every page as in Raag Darbari.”Ms Wright’s other books include An Introduction to the Hill Stations of India, Sri lanka, and Birds of the Indian subcontinent.
McGregor’s dictionary notwithstanding, another favourite shabdkosh for students of Hindi is the one edited by Padma Bhushan Fr Camille Bulcke, a Belgian Jesuit missionary in India, who attained pre-eminence in the Hindi language. While on a visit to India in 1935, he developed a passion for the Hindi language and is credited with producing perhaps the best and most authentic English to Hindi dictionary.
Bulcke once wrote, “When I arrived in India in 1935, I was surprised and pained when I realised that many educated people were unaware of their cultural traditions and considered it a matter of pride to speak in English. I resolved my duty would be to master the language of the people.” And he did. His interest in the classical language of India pushed him to study Sanskrit. He earned a Master’s Degree in the ancient language from the University of Calcutta (1942-1944) and a doctorate in Hindi literature from the University of Allahabad (1945-1949) with a thesis titled, Ram Katha ka Vikas, based on the works of Goswami Tulsidas. Other popular works include a Hindi translation of the Bible that Churches in northern India still use and a 40,000-word English-Hindi dictionary published in 1968.
The Hindu poet-saint, reformer and an ardent Rama bhakt, Tulsidas’s writings left a deep impression on Bulcke. He was often invited to speak at symposiums on the Hindi poet and his devotional Rama-songs. Bulcke brought people in touch with the profound values of their own spiritual traditions, and, according to him, Tulsidas’s works were an excellent introduction to the values of the Gospel.
The Government granted him Indian citizenship in 1951, and he was made a member of the National Commission for the Promotion of Hindi as the national language. Bulcke took on the name ‘Bihari’ after acquiring Indian citizenship. He died in Delhi on August 17, 1982, and was buried at the Nicholson Cemetery in the capital.
Indeed, as long as Hindi has passionate proponents like Bulcke, Wright and McGregor, the language will continue to flourish and charm aficionados across the globe.