Rohitash Chandra, UNSW Sydney, February 2020
Hindi is one of the many official languages of India but spoken by the majority of Indians. More than 500 million Hindi (with Urdu) speakers as the first language [1] and probably another 500 million a second language, hence in my estimate, more than a billion people speak Hindi [*]. Only in Tamil Nadu which is a state with 60 million people, politicians are against Hindi [2], while the rest of India takes Hindi either as a first or second language. The Indian government tried to make Hindi the national language of India but facing difficulties [3].
A major limitation is that Fiji Hindi does not have enough books to be taught as a language, nor do teachers have qualifications, such as Bachelor of Education in Fiji Hindi (they do have Hindi major in Bachelor of Education). In my view, there are a number of inconsistencies and it cannot be considered as a full academic language; however, there has been research done to document Fiji Hindi, grammar and a lot of effort has been done by a limited number of academics [4]Nobody suggests that Fiji Hindi should not be recognised or not spoken. Pure or Sudh Hindi should be the main language as a subject in Fiji schools, and Fiji Hindi can be part of it. Fiji Hindi is needed, especially in the case of teaching a spoken language to indigenous (iTaukei, Rotuman) or Chinese students, who also attend Indian or Hindu schools.
Fijian government tried to implement Hindi and iTaukei language as separate mandatory subjects in all schools but failed since they don’t have enough Hindi and iTaukei teachers. Fiji Hindi does not exist as an academic language to teach, its a spoken language and will remain so unless there is a massive literature (novels, newspaper, etc) and research in Fiji Hindi. One way ahead in recruiting teachers would be to increase the pay scale for Hindi and iTaukei teachers, and then you will have more graduates in these subjects.I am aware that there is some work done in terms of linguistics and structure of Fiji Hindi, but there are limited literature and not much advantage in making it a written language in terms of using it for global communication with Indians worldwide. The matter is not about whether Fiji Hindi has a structure or not, but about teaching it in schools and implications of it, especially for Hinduism — as there is no Hindu text in Fiji Hindi. Everyone has an opinion about it, and we must listen to all groups, not just a single group of academics.
As for sacred Hindu texts, there exist translations in my languages including English [5]. I as a Fiji Indian do study the Bhagwad Gita in English apart from Hindi since at times some Hindi terms is a bit too hard to get as I have not done enough Hindi classes in secondary school. You can translate Bhagawad Gita in Fiji Hindi and other texts as well, but they will lose the essence. Especially in case of the Ramayana [6], since its a poem which is sung as Kirtans in weekly Ramayana events by Hindus. Note that the Hindi version of Ramayana, known as the Ramcharitmanas [7] is not a translation, but a poetic depiction of Ramayana from Sanskrit in Hindi by Tulsi Das [8]. It loses its essence when translated in English and will also do when translated in Fiji Hindi. Moreover, Ramayana and Gita in Fiji Hindi will not sound formal and will not be taken seriously and this is why most Hindu organisations are against it.
I believe that Hindi as a subject should be amended a bit to incorporate Fiji Hindi. Fiji Hindi is a spoken language, it does not have enough literature nor research to be taught as a language on its own. I think Hindi classes can incorporate Fiji Hindi with examples about spoken and written Fiji Hindi, and a nationwide curriculum can be developed irrespective of ethnicity and religion. I think all Fiji students should take Hindi and iTaukei languages in schools just as they take English and mathematics. This will help in Fijian reconciliation and unity. Those that have missed can easily take them as electives at the university level. Universities can provide iTaukei and Hindi as general subjects. There is no use in doing mandatory courses in the university such as Pacific philosophy and consciousness etc when you don’t understand Hindi and iTaukei languages and respective cultures.
Apart from Hindi, the government should provide funds for Telugu, Punjabi, Tamil and Bengali languages to be part of possible degrees that study Indian culture and diaspora. Furthermore, other Pacific languages, such as Rotuman, Samoan, Tongan and Chinese languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese need to be taught at the university level for possible teaching in primary and secondary schools.
Hindi is the language of the future for Indians and for the world!
References
- The world’s languages, in 7 maps and charts: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/23/the-worlds-languages-in-7-maps-and-charts/
- No compulsory Hindi in India schools after Tamil Nadu anger: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48495482
- Lakhan Gusain, “The Effectiveness of Establishing Hindi as a National Language”, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 13(1), 2012, pp. 43–50
- Moag, Rodney F, “Fiji Hindi: a basic course and reference grammar”, Australian National University Press in collaboration with University of the South Pacific, 1977: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/115135
- Religion: Hindu Sacred Texts in English Translation: https://libguides.princeton.edu/c.php?g=84032&p=545712
- Quick guide to the Ramayana: https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/exhibitions/ramayana/guide.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramcharitmanas
- https://medium.com/@ashishgupta_5977/11-differences-between-ramayana-and-ramcharitmanas-you-must-know-9249c105cd17
[*] This is just an estimate, the exact numbers would be given after 2021 Indian census.
Disclaimer: The comments expressed by the author do not reflect the stand of his institution.
Rohitash Chandra 