Gandhi on Hindi and Hindustani: The Language of Unity

Mahatma Gandhi was not merely a political leader fighting for India’s independence; he was also deeply concerned about how Indians would communicate with one another once free from colonial rule. For him, language was not simply a medium of expression but a powerful tool for national unity. Gandhi believed that a common language could bridge the divides of region and religion, bringing together millions under one national identity. His advocacy for Hindi and Hindustani as India’s common language remains a significant but often misunderstood aspect of his social thought.

Why Gandhi championed Hindi as the national language 🔗

Gandhi’s case for a national language was rooted in his vision of a unified India. During the freedom struggle, he realized that for the independence movement to become truly mass-based, Indians from different provinces needed a common medium of communication. He believed that a common language had the power to bridge the gap between communities and bring people together in their fight against British rule.

In his presidential address at the Gujarat Educational Conference in 1917, Gandhi laid out five requirements for any language to qualify as a national language. It should be easy for government officials to learn, capable of serving as a medium for religious, economic, and political exchange, spoken by the majority of Indians, easy for the entire country to learn, and chosen without considerations of temporary interest. After evaluating these criteria, he concluded that Hindi-spoken by millions across northern India-was the only language that fulfilled all five conditions.

Gandhi estimated that over two hundred million Hindus and Muslims spoke and understood Hindi-Hindustani. He questioned why speakers of regional languages could not learn a language understood by such vast numbers of their fellow citizens. He urged people from the south to make special efforts to study Hindi in the spirit of patriotism, assuring them that this would facilitate dialogue and real mass contact in the national movement.

Hindi, Hindustani, and Urdu: one language with many names 🔗

One of the most crucial aspects of Gandhi’s language philosophy was his deliberate use of terminology. He often used the terms “Hindi,” “Hindustani,” and even “Urdu” interchangeably, which sometimes confused his readers. However, this was not carelessness but a conscious effort to emphasize that the distinction between Hindi and Urdu was unreal.

In his 1917 address, Gandhi explained precisely what he meant by Hindi. He defined it as the language spoken by Hindus and Muslims in North India, written either in the Devanagari or Urdu script. To him, Hindi and Urdu were not two different languages but the same language with different scripts. The difference, he argued, was artificially propagated by educated classes-Hindus who had Sanskritized Hindi and Muslims who had Persianized Urdu.

Gandhi saw the religious connotations attached to “Hindi” and “Urdu” as harmful to national cohesion. To counter this, he increasingly adopted the term “Hindustani” to describe the common spoken language of northern India. He believed Hindustani could unite North with South and Hindus with Muslims, serving as a true symbol of national integration rather than religious division.

The Ganga-Yamuna metaphor 🔗

Perhaps the most beautiful articulation of Gandhi’s vision for the national language came through his riverine metaphor. He urged Hindus not to reject Persian words and Muslims not to reject Sanskrit words from their speech. Instead, he called for a harmonious blend of the two that would be as beautiful as the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna and last forever.

Gandhi went further, stating that Hindi and Urdu are like the Ganga and the Yamuna, while Hindustani is the Saraswati-the mythical underground river that joins the other two at their sacred confluence in Allahabad. This poetic vision encapsulated his belief that language should bring communities together rather than divide them. The Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (composite culture) that he admired found its linguistic expression in Hindustani.

Promoting Hindi in the South 🔗

Gandhi understood that advocating for a North Indian language among Dravidian-speaking populations would face resistance. Yet he believed this was essential for national unity and real mass contact during the freedom movement. In 1918, Gandhi founded the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha in Madras (now Chennai) with the explicit goal of propagating Hindi among South Indians.

The Sabha was inaugurated by Annie Besant on June 17, 1918, and Gandhi remained its president until his death in 1948. He even sent his son Devdas Gandhi to Chennai as the first Hindi teacher, demonstrating his personal commitment to the cause. During those early years, there was no institution dedicated to spreading Hindi in South India, making Gandhi’s initiative pioneering.

Gandhi appealed to Dravidian speakers to learn Hindi as a patriotic duty, assuring them it was not a difficult language. In his 1946 convocation address to students at the Prachar Sabha, he acknowledged the challenge but expressed confidence in South Indians’ wisdom and talent to master Hindustani. He emphasized that learning Hindi would ensure the formation of inter-provincial contacts without the extensive use of English, enabling genuine participation in the national movement.

The Sabha’s growth and legacy 🔗

What began as a modest initiative has grown into a significant institution. In 1964, the Indian Government recognized the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha as an Institute of National Importance. In 1936, Gandhi established four branches of the Sabha in areas where Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam were spoken, ensuring the movement had regional roots.

Gandhi presided over the Sabha’s convocations in 1933, 1936, and 1946. During the silver jubilee celebrations in 1946, he stayed on the Sabha’s premises for nearly ten days. Today, the organization runs postgraduate centers, teacher training institutes, schools, and has produced tens of thousands of Hindi propagators across South India. Tamil Nadu leads all southern states with over 43,000 pracharaks, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with nearly 23,000.

Gandhi’s blueprint for Hindi promotion 🔗

Gandhi was not content with merely advocating for Hindi; he developed practical suggestions for its promotion. His approach combined institutional efforts with individual responsibility, always emphasizing voluntary adoption over imposition.

One of his key institutional recommendations was making Hindi the language of Congress proceedings. In 1925, he persuaded the Indian National Congress to accept Hindustani as the official language for its proceedings. The Congress Constitution was amended at the Kanpur Session to state that proceedings would be conducted in Hindustani as far as possible, with provincial committees using their respective regional languages.

Practical suggestions for propagation 🔗

Gandhi envisioned creating associations in schools and educational institutions specifically dedicated to promoting Hindi. These associations would make progressive use of Hindi in all fields, evolve new technical words, avoid using foreign languages in politics, provide Hindi teachers wherever necessary, and organize volunteer teachers for honorary work. He believed that even a single zealous young person in every school could inspire fellow students and spread the movement organically.

He also called for the recruitment of educated young Hindi speakers willing to serve as teachers in South India for at least two years. Gandhi advocated for creating dictionaries and textbooks, training teachers systematically, and using Hindustani in legislatures and courts. He urged that court proceedings in provinces be conducted in the vernacular language, while the central government, legislatures, and the final court of appeal use Hindustani.

The Hindustani Prachar Sabha 🔗

By the 1940s, Gandhi grew concerned that the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan was becoming dominated by advocates of Sanskritized Hindi who wanted to exclude Urdu elements. When the organization insisted on working only for Sanskrit-laden Hindi, Gandhi felt compelled to act. In 1942, he established the Hindustani Prachar Sabha as a potential secular alternative that would promote the inclusive vision of Hindustani he had always championed.

The objective of this new Sabha was to promote Hindustani-written and read in both Nagari and Persian scripts-as the medium of contact between provinces with different regional languages. Gandhi clarified that he did not want either Hindi or Urdu to disappear. As a Satyagrahi who believed in universal love, he wanted both languages to prosper for the good of the country.

Language as a means, not an end 🔗

Gandhi explained his insistence on language in a revealing statement. He made clear that he was not making a fetish of language. He would not refuse Swaraj if it could be achieved at the cost of their language-though he would refuse it at the cost of Truth and Non-violence. But he insisted on language because it was a powerful means of achieving national unity, and the more firmly it was established, the broader-based their unity would be.

Gandhi cited the Russian example, noting that even before the Revolution, Russians had resolved to have all their textbooks in Russian, which prepared the way for Lenin’s revolution. He pleaded with Congress leaders to learn from this and establish real mass contacts by conducting all deliberations in Hindi and having provincial organizations use their respective provincial languages.

It is important to note that Gandhi’s advocacy for a common language was never meant to supersede regional languages. The common language he advocated was in addition to regional languages, not in replacement of them. He urged the adoption of regional languages in provincial courts and governments while reserving Hindustani for national-level communication.

What do you think? Given the ongoing debates about Hindi in contemporary India, do you believe Gandhi’s vision of a voluntary, inclusive Hindustani that embraces both Devanagari and Urdu scripts could still serve as a model for national linguistic harmony? How might his approach to language differ from current policies on language promotion?

References

1. https://www.epw.in/engage/article/hindi-imposition-examining-gandhis-views-on-common-language
2. https://www.studocu.com/in/document/aligarh-muslim-university/philosophy-of-gandhi/gandhis-views-on-language/22433113
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/hindustani
4. https://thefederal.com/analysis/how-gandhi-changed-his-mind-about-the-south-after-experiments-with-hindi-as-national-language
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshina_Bharat_Hindi_Prachar_Sabha
6. https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/hindi-sabha-founded-nurtured-by-gandhi-carries-on-his-fighting-spirit-in-south-india-119100200601_1.html
7. https://gandhiking.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-dakshina-bharat-hindi-prachar-sabha-and-mahatma-gandhi-1