Hindi language Indo-Aryan ianguage of India, spoken or understood by more than 30% of the country’s population. Modern Standard Hindi is a lingua franca (as well as native language) of millions of people in North India and the official language of the Indian Union. It is effectively a con¬ tinuation of Hindustani, which developed from Khari Boli, the speech of certain classes and districts in Delhi affiliated with the Mughal court in the 16th—18th centuries. A heavily Persianized variant of Khari Boli used by Muslim authors formed the basis for Urdu. Hindustani was codified by the British at Fort William College in Calcutta (now Kolkata). There Hindu intellectuals promoted a Sanskritized form of Hindustani (see Sanskrit lan¬ guage) written in the Devanagari script (see Indic writing systems) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; it became the progenitor of modem literary Hindi as used by Hindu authors. During the Indian independence move¬ ment, Hindustani was regarded as a national unifying factor, but after the partition in 1947 this attitude changed, and the name has practically dropped from use in favour of either Hindi or Urdu. Linguists, particularly George Abraham Grierson, have also used the term Hindi to refer collec¬ tively to all the dialects and regional literary languages of the northern Indian plain. Hindi has drastically simplified the complex grammar of Old Indo-Aryan while preserving certain phonetic features.
Hindu-Arabic numerals Set of 10 symbols—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0—that represent numbers in the decimal number system. They originated in India in the 6th or 7th century and were introduced to Europe through Arab mathematicians around the 12th century (see al-Khwarizmi). They represented a profound break with previous methods of counting, such as the abacus, and paved the way for the development of algebra.
Hindu Kush Vhin-du-'kush\ Latin Caucasus Indicus Mountain sys¬ tem, south-central Asia. Some 500 mi (800 km) long, it runs from the Pamirs in the east near the Pakistan-China border through Pakistan to western Afghanistan. The system forms a drainage divide between the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) valley to the northwest and the Indus River valley to the southeast. Its passes have historically been of great military significance, providing access to the northern plains of the Indian subcontinent. It includes about two dozen summits above 23,000 ft (7,000 m), including the highest, Tirich Mir, at 25,230 ft (7,690 m).
Hinduism Oldest of the world’s major religions. It evolved from the Vedic religion of ancient India. The major branches of Hinduism are Vaish- navism and Shaivism, each of which includes many different sects. Though the various sects each rely on their own set of scriptures, they all revere the ancient Vedas, which were brought to India by Aryan invaders after 1200 bce. The philosophical Vedic texts called the Upanishads explored the search for knowledge that would allow mankind to escape the cycle of reincarnation. Fundamental to Hinduism is the belief in a cosmic prin¬ ciple of ultimate reality called Brahman and its identity with the individual soul, or atman. All creatures go through a cycle of rebirth, or samsara, which can be broken only by spiritual self-realization, after which libera¬ tion, or moksha, is attained. The principle of karma determines a being’s status within the cycle of rebirth. The greatest Hindu deities are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The numerous other Hindu gods are mostly viewed as incarnations or epiphanies of the main deities, though some are survivors of the pre-Aryan era. The major sources of classical mythology are the Mahabharata (which includes the Bhagavadgita, the most important reli¬ gious text of Hinduism), the Ramayana, and the Puranas. The hierarchi¬ cal social structure of the caste system is also important in Hinduism; it is supported by the principle of dharma. In the 20th century Hinduism blended with Indian nationalism to become a powerful political force in Indian politics. In the early 21st century there were more than 850 mil¬ lion Hindus worldwide.
Major Hindu Holidays
Date
Name
Significance
Caitra (Mar.-Apr.) Shukla ("waxing fortnight") 9
Vaishakha (Apr.-May) Jyaistha (May-June)
Ramanavami ("ninth of Rama")
celebrates the birth of Rama
Asadha (June-July)
Rathayatra ("pilgrimage
famous Jagannatha festival
Sh. 2
of the chariot")
of the temple complex at
Puri, Orissa
Shravana (July-Aug.) Krsna ("waning fortnight") 8
Janmastami ("eighth day of the birth")
birthday of the god Krishna
Bhadrapada
Ganeshacaturthi ("fourth
honors Ganesha, a particular
(Aug.-Sept.) Sh. 4
of Ganesha")
favorite in Maharashtra
Ashvina (Sept.-Oct.)
Durga-puja ("homage
special to Bengal, in honor of
Sh. 7-10
to Durga")
the goddess Durga
Ashvina Sh. 7-10
Dashahra ("ten days"), or Dussera
celebrating Rama's victory over Ravana; traditional beginning of the warring season
Ashvina Sh. 15
Lakshmipuja ("homage to Lakshmi")
date on which commercial books are closed, and new annual records begun
Karttika (Oct.-Nov.)
Dipavali, Divali ("strings or lights")
festival of lights, when light is
K. 15 and Sh. 1
carried from the waning to the waxing fortnight
Margashirsa
Maha-shivaratri ("great
honors Shiva on the blackest
(Nov.-Dee.) K. 13
night of Shiva")
night of the month
Pausa (Dec.-Jan.)
Sh. 15
Magha (Jan.-Feb.)
Guru Nanak Jayanti
birthday of Nanak, founder of Sikhism
Phalguna (Feb.-Mar.)
Holi (name of a
fertility and role-changing
Sh. 14
demoness)
festival, scene of great teasing of superiors
Phalguna Sh. 15
Dolayatra ("swing festival")
scene of the famous hook¬ swinging rites of Orissa
Hindustan Name for India. It was historically applied to northern India, in contrast to the Deccan, or southern India. It included the region bounded on the north by the Himalayas and on the south by the Vindhya Mountains
Hindenburg
CULVER PICTURES
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878 I Hine ► Hiroshige
and Narmada River, comprising the Ganges River valley from the Punjab to Assam. The name was also applied to a small area comprising the upper basin of the Ganges.
Hine, Lewis Wickes (b. Sept. 26, 1874, Oshkosh, Wis., U.S.—d. Nov. 3, 1940, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) U.S. photographer. He was trained as a sociologist. In 1904 he began to photograph immigrants at Ellis Island and the tenements and sweatshops where they lived and worked. In 1911 he was hired by the National Child Labor Committee to record child labour conditions. Traveling throughout the East, he produced appalling pictures of exploited children. In World War I he worked as a photogra¬ pher with the Red Cross. On returning to New York City, he photographed the construction of the Empire State Building. For the rest of his life he pho¬ tographed government projects.
Hines, Earl (Kenneth) (b. Dec. 28, 1905, Duquesne, Pa., U.S.—d. April 22, 1983, Oakland, Calif.) U.S. pianist and bandleader who had a profound influence on the development of jazz piano. Known as “Fatha” Hines, he was a pianist of amazing technical command and tireless energy. Breaking with the stride tradition (in which regular two-beat left-hand rhythms accompany the melody in the right hand), he emulated the single¬ note instruments (e.g., trumpet) in creating melodic variations of the melody with the right hand. Hines led a successful Chicago-based big band from 1928 to 1948. He was influenced by Louis Armstrong, and the two performed together frequently throughout their careers; their recorded encounters from the late 1920s, particularly “Weather Bird,” are jazz clas¬ sics.
hip-hop See rap