Rajasthanl, Western Hindi, Eastern Hindi, and BiharI

Hindi. It is most important to understand clearly 
what we mean by Hindi, as the word is often used 
ambiguously. It is often, for instance, applied in a 
loose sense to the vernacular speech of the whole of 
Nor th India between the Punjab and Sindh on the 

West, and Bengal on the East. But the philological 
researches of scholars, such as Sir George Grierson, 
have shown that there are really four chief languages 
in this area, namely, Rajasthanl, Western Hindi, 
Eastern Hindi, and Biharl, each having a different 
parentage. Biharl really belongs to a group of lan- 
guages of which Bengali is another member. West- 
ern Hindi is closely connected in origin with Panjabi. 
The word Hindi is also often used to denote modern 
literary High Hindi in contradistinction to Urdu ; but 
both High Hindi and Urdu were, as will be shown below, 
developed from a dialect of Western Hindi. Hindustani 
(or Hindostani) is also a name used sometimes to denote 
the vernaculars of all Hindustan, that is the country 
between the Punjab and Sindh and Bengal, but is also 
sometimes used to mean the simpler speech which is 
the li7igua franca of modern India, and of which both 
Urdu and High Hindi are literary developments.

way into the treasures of India's past

way into the treasures of India's past

No section of the population of India can afford to 
neglect her ancient heritage. In her literature, philo- 


sophy, art, and regulated life there is much that is 
worthless, much also that is distinctly unhealthy ; yet 
the treasures of knowledge, wisdom, and beauty which 
they contain are too precious to be lost. Every citizen 
of India needs to use them, if he is to be a cul- 
tured modern Indian. This is as true of the Christian, 
the Muslim, the Zoroastrian as of the Hindu. But, 
while the heritage of India has been largely explored 
by scholars, and the results of their toil are laid out for 
us in their books, they cannot be said to be really 
available for the ordinary man.in order that 
every educated Indian, whether rich or poor, may be 
able to find his way into the treasures of India's past.