Hindi Belt

{{Short description|Linguistic region of India}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2015}} {{Use Indian English|date=May 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Hindi Belt | image_map = File:Hindi belt.png | map_caption = Area (red) where various languages considered by the census as Hindi are spoken natively | native_name =  | type = Region | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|India}} | subdivision_type1 = Major urban agglomerations (2011 census) | subdivision_name1 = {{plainlist| * Delhi * Jaipur * Kanpur * Lucknow * Indore *Patna }} | parts_type = States and Union Territories | parts_style = list | p1 = Bihar | p2 = Chandigarh | p3 = Chhattisgarh | p4 = Delhi | p5 = Haryana | p6 = Himachal Pradesh | p7 = Jharkhand | p8 = Madhya Pradesh | p9 = Rajasthan | p10 = Uttarakhand | p11 = Uttar Pradesh | area_total_km2 = 1,355,456 | population_as_of = 2011 | population_total = 563,766,118 | population_density_km2 = auto | blank1_name = Scheduled Languages | blank1_info = {{hlist|Hindi, Maithili}} | timezone1 = UTC+5:30 (IST) | demographics_type1 = | demographics1_title1 = | population_density_sq_mi = auto | population_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/42526/download/46152/A-1_NO_OF_VILLAGES_TOWNS_HOUSEHOLDS_POPULATION_AND_AREA.xlsx |title=A-1 No of Villages, Towns, Households, Population and Area |work=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India |access-date=3 March 2024}}</ref> | area_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/largest-state-in-india-check-list-of-all-states-by-area-and-population-1619423868-1 | title=Largest State in India 2022: Check the list of all states by area and population | date=16 February 2022}}</ref> | native_name_lang = hi | population_demonym = Hindi Bhashi }} thumb|320px|States and union territories of India by the most commonly spoken (L1) first language<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |title=50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India (July 2012 to June 2013) |publisher=Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India |access-date=17 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226150914/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2014}}</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">Some languages may be over- or underrepresented as the census data used is at the state-level. For example, while Urdu has 52 million speakers (2001), in no state is it a majority as the language itself is primarily limited to Indian Muslims.</ref>|class=skin-invert-image

The '''Hindi Belt''', also known as the '''Hindi Heartland''', the '''Hindi-speaking states''', and sometimes more broadly referred to as the '''Hindi–Urdu Belt''' or '''Hindustani Belt''',{{cn|date=May 2026}} and colloquially as the '''Cow Belt''',<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 September 2001 |title=`What is Indianness? The culture of the cowbelt?' |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/what-is-indianness-the-culture-of-the-cowbelt/articleshow/1209771127.cms |access-date=7 May 2026 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Balakrishna |first=Sandeep |date=29 March 2021 |title=BIMARU, Cow Belt and the War of Narratives |url=https://www.dharmadispatch.in/commentary/bimaru-cow-belt-and-the-war-of-narratives |access-date=7 May 2026 |website=The Dharma Dispatch |language=en}}</ref> is a linguistic region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India where various Northern, Central, Eastern and Western Indo-Aryan languages are spoken, which in a broader sense is termed as ''Hindi languages'', with Modern Standard Hindi (a Sanskritised version, based on Khari Boli) serving as the ''lingua franca'' of the region. This belt includes all the Indian states whose official language is Modern Standard Hindi.<ref name="sukhwal1985">{{Citation | title=Modern Political Geography of India | author=B.L. Sukhwal | year=1985 | publisher=Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division | isbn=9780865906082 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HemAAAAAIAAJ | quote=... In the Hindi heartland ...}}</ref><ref name="allan2004">{{Citation | title=Reporting war: journalism in wartime | author=Stuart Allan, Barbie Zelizer | year=2004 | isbn=0-415-33998-7 | publisher=Routledge | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skdoYDs1e8AC | quote=''... located in what is called the "Hindi heartland" or the "Hindi belt" of north and central India ...''}}</ref><ref name="kesavan1997">{{Citation | title=Origins of printing and publishing in the Hindi heartland (Volume 3 of History of printing and publishing in India : a story of cultural re-awakening) | author=B.S. Kesavan | year=1997 | isbn=81-237-2120-X | publisher=National Book Trust | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JDgAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/battle-for-the-hindi-heartland-will-it-favour-the-bjp-again-50031/?amp|title=Battle for the Hindi heartland: Will it favour the BJP again?|website=www.orfonline.org}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/congress-revival-in-hindi-patti|title=Congress' revival in Hindi patti|work=The National Herald|date=8 February 2019}}</ref>

The term "Hindi Belt" is sometimes also used to refer to the nine Indian states whose official language is ''Modern Standard Hindi'', namely Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as to the union territory of Chandigarh and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.<ref name="fulllangdatacensus 2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-languagesintersect-in-india/story-g3nzNwFppYV7XvCumRzlYL.html|title=How languages intersect in India|publisher=Hindustan Times|date=22 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/static/iframes/language_probability_interactive/index.html|title=How many Indians can you talk to?|website=www.hindustantimes.com|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/perspective/hindi-and-north-south-divide-696931.html|title=Hindi and the North-South divide|work=Deccan Herald|date=9 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Pillalamarri|first=Akhilesh|date=27 July 2018|url=https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/indias-evolving-linguistic-landscape/|title=India's Evolving Linguistic Landscape|magazine=The Diplomat|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>

== Hindi as a dialect continuum == {{Refimprove section|date=February 2021}}

Hindi is part of the Indo-Aryan dialect continuum that lies within the cultural Hindi Belt in the northern plains of India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Hindi {{!}} Department of Linguistics {{!}} Illinois |url=https://linguistics.illinois.edu/languages/hindi/about-hindi |access-date=26 December 2025 |website=linguistics.illinois.edu |language=en}}</ref> This definition of Hindi is one of the ones used in the Indian census, and results in more than forty per cent of Indians being reported to be speakers of Hindi, though Hindi-area respondents vary as to whether they call their language Hindi or the actual name of their language. As defined in the 1991 census, Hindi has a broad and a narrow sense. The term "Hindi" is thus ambiguous. Before being identified as a separate language, Maithili was identified by the census as a Hindi dialect. Many such languages still struggle for recognition.<ref>{{Citation |last=Jha |first=Mithilesh Kumar |title=Introduction: Language Politics in India and the ‘Hindi Heartland’—The Status of Maithili |date=12 April 2018 |work=Language Politics and Public Sphere in North India |pages=1–38 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/32339/chapter/268583106 |access-date=26 December 2025 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780199479344.003.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-947934-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The broad sense covers a number of Central, East-Central, Eastern, and Northern Indo-Aryan languages, including the Bihari languages except Maithili, all the Rajasthani languages, the Central Pahari languages and most Western Pahari languages.<ref name="auto"/> This is an area bounded on the west by Punjabi and Sindhi; on the south by Gujarati, Marathi, and Odia; on the east by Maithili and Bengali; and on the north by Nepali, Dogri, Kashmiri and Tibetic languages. The varieties of this belt are usually considered separate languages, as opposed to dialects of a single language as considered by the Indian census.

In a middle sense, Hindi is equated with the Central Indo-Aryan languages. Based on their linguistic features, these are divided into Western and Eastern Hindi languages. The narrowest definition of Hindi is that of the official language, Modern Standard Hindi, a standardised register a Western Hindi language spoken around Delhi and Western UP. Standardised Hindustani—including both Standard Hindi and Urdu—is historically based on the Khariboli of 17th-century Delhi. ===Number of speakers=== Population data from 2011 Indian Census is as follows: *Central Indo-Aryan **Western Hindi languages ***240 M Hindi ***9.8 M Haryanvi ***1.5 M Braj Bhasha ***9.5 M Kanauji ***5.6 M Bundeli **Eastern Hindi languages ***4.5 M Awadhi ***18.2 M Chhattisgarhi ***2.6 M Bagheli ***1.7 M Surgujia *Eastern Indo-Aryan **Bihari languages, excluding Maithili ***51 M: Bhojpuri ***13 M: Magahi ***8 M: Khortha ***5.1 M: Nagpuri ***0.5 M: Kurmali *Western Indo-Aryan **Rajasthani languages ***7.8 M Marwari-Merwari ***5.2 M Malvi ***2.3 M Nimadi ***4.8M Lambadi ***2.9 M Harauti ***3 M Godwari ***2 M Bagri

According to the 2001 Indian census,<ref name="censusindia.gov.in">{{Cite web|url=http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190612/http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm|url-status=dead|title=Census of India: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues –2001|archive-date=29 October 2013|website=censusindia.gov.in|access-date=22 December 2019}}</ref> 258 million people in India (25% of the population) regarded their native language to be "Hindi", however, including other languages considered by the census as Hindi, this figure becomes 422 million Hindi speakers (41% of the population). These figures do not count 52 million Indians who considered their mother tongue to be "Urdu", which is informally mutually intelligible with Hindi. The numbers are also not directly comparable to the table above; for example, while independent estimates in 2001 counted 37 million speakers of Awadhi,<ref>USCWM</ref> in the 2001 census only 2½ million of these identified their language as "Awadhi" rather than as "Hindi".

There have been demands to include Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Kumaoni, Bundeli, Chhattisgarhi, Garhwali, Kudmali/Kurmali, Magahi, Nagpuri, and Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule; these are otherwise regarded as dialects of Hindi by the government, although they have varying levels of mutual intelligibility with standard Hindi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/38-languages-stake-claim-to-be-in-eighth-schedule/|title=38 languages stake claim to be in Eighth schedule|website=www.dailyexcelsior.com|date=15 August 2013}}</ref> Some academics oppose inclusion of Hindi dialects in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution as full-fledged Indian languages. According to them recognition of Hindi dialects as separate languages would deprive Hindi of millions of its speakers and eventually no Hindi will be left.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Don%E2%80%99t-add-Hindi-dialects-in-Eighth-Schedule-say-academics/article17064058.ece/|title=Don't add Hindi dialects in Eighth Schedule, say academics|newspaper=The Hindu|date=20 January 2017|last1=Pathak|first1=Vikas}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/linguists-divided-over-inclusion-of-bhojpuri-in-8th-schedule-877480-2017-02-17|title=Linguists divided over inclusion of Bhojpuri in 8th Schedule|website=www.indiatoday.in|date=17 February 2017 }}</ref>

===Outside the Indian subcontinent=== {{Refimprove section|date=February 2021}} Much of the Hindi spoken outside of the subcontinent is distinct from the Indian standard language. Fiji Hindi is a derived form of Awadhi, Bhojpuri, and including some English and very few native Fijian words.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abel |date=22 April 2025 |title=Hindi, Fiji |url=https://accentnetwork.com/hindi-fiji/ |access-date=26 December 2025 |website=Accent Network |language=en-US}}</ref> It is spoken by majority of Indo-Fijians. In Mauritius, Bhojpuri is the most commonly spoken Indian language. Once widely spoken as a mother tongue at 31.7% in 1972,<ref>{{cite web |title=Housing and Population Census of Mauritius 1972 |url=https://statsmauritius.govmu.org/Documents/Census_and_Surveys/Archive%20Census/1972%20Census/Table%20Reports/1972-HPC-Volume%20V%20-%20Population%20General%20Tables%20-%20Island%20of%20Mauritius.pdf |work=Ministry of Economic Planning and Development |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref> it has become less commonly spoken over the years. According to the 2022 census,<ref>{{cite web |title=2022 Population Census - Main Results |url=https://statsmauritius.govmu.org/Documents/Statistics/ESI/2022/EI1687/2022%20Population%20Census_Main%20Results_18112022.pdf |website=Government of Mauritius |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref> Bhojpuri was the most commonly spoken language at home for only 5.1% of the population, though the per cent of the population fluent in the language is likely still around 36.7%, according to Anjani Murdan of the Mauritius Times.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Murdan |first1=Anjani |date=10 June 2022 |title=Is the Bhojpuri language spoken by only 5.3% of the Mauritian population, as stated by the 2011 Census report? |url=http://www.mauritiustimes.com/mt/is-the-bhojpuri-language-spoken-by-only-5-3-of-the-mauritian-population-as-stated-by-the-2011-census-report/ |work=Mauritius Times |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref>

==Geography and demography== {{Refimprove section|date=February 2021}} [[File:Indo-Gangetic Plain.png|thumb|300px|The Indo-Gangetic Plain]] The highly fertile, flat, alluvial Indo-Gangetic Plains occupies the northern portion of the Hindi Heartland, the Vindhyas in Madhya Pradesh demarcate the southern boundary and the hills and dense forests of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh lie in the east. The region has a predominantly subtropical climate, with cool winters, hot summers and moderate monsoons. The climate does vary with latitude somewhat, with winters getting cooler and rainfall decreasing. It can vary significantly with altitude, especially in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

The Hindi Heartland supports about a third of India's population and occupies about a quarter of its geographical area. The population is concentrated along the fertile Ganges plain in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hindi Belt |url=https://www.lonweb.org/links/hindi/lang/006.htm |access-date=26 December 2025 |website=www.lonweb.org}}</ref>

Although the vast majority of the population is rural, significant urban cities include Chandigarh, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Raipur, Prayagraj (formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad), Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra, Varanasi, Indore, Bhopal, Patna, Jamshedpur and Ranchi. The region hosts a diverse population, with various dialects of Hindi being spoken along with other Indian languages, and multi-religious population including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs along with people from various castes and a significant tribal population.

== Political sphere ==

Political development and climate in these states since Indian independence has been dominated by caste and creed based politics.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 February 2019 |title=“2019 elections may have no precedent in terms of past elections” |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/2019-elections-may-have-no-precedent-in-terms-of-past-elections/article26230444.ece |access-date=3 November 2025 |website=BusinessLine |language=en}}</ref> Politically these states have been mostly been dominated by mainstream national parties like Congress and BJP for the past few decades.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yadav |first=Yogendra |date=9 November 2018 |title=Why BJP is staring at a loss of nearly 100 seats from 2014 tally |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/hindi-heartland-holds-key-to-bjp-2019-electoral-fortunes-once-again/147096/ |access-date=3 November 2025 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref> They also have been crucial for winning national elections due to their relatively large population size and political influence.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=2658585|title=The Rise of the Other Backward Classes in the Hindi Belt|first=Christophe|last=Jaffrelot|date=1 January 2000|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=59|issue=1|pages=86–108|doi=10.2307/2658585|s2cid=162845558}}</ref> States of the Hindi belt well as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha form so called ''Cow Belt'' in Indian politics, <ref>{{Cite web |last=Yadav |first=Yogendra |date=9 November 2018 |title=Why BJP is staring at a loss of nearly 100 seats from 2014 tally |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/hindi-heartland-holds-key-to-bjp-2019-electoral-fortunes-once-again/147096/ |access-date=3 November 2025 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref> owning to the great importance the issue of cattle slaughter receives in these regions compared to other political issues.

==Bibliography== *Grierson, G. A. ''Linguistic Survey of India'' Vol I-XI, Calcutta, 1928, {{ISBN|81-85395-27-6}} *{{Citation | last= Masica | first= Colin | author-link= Colin Masica | year= 1991 | title= The Indo-Aryan Languages | place= Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press | isbn= 978-0-521-29944-2 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC&q=indo-aryan+languages }}. *{{Citation |last=Shapiro |first=Michael C. |year=2003 |chapter=Hindi |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPR2OlbTbdkC&q=indo-aryan&pg=PA250 |editor1-last= Cardona |editor1-first= George |editor2-last= Jain |editor2-first= Dhanesh |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-77294-5 |pages=250–285 }}.

==Notes== {{notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://pd.cpim.org/2005/0403/04032005_nalini.htm On The Problems Of The Hindi Belt: A Seminar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218073748/http://pd.cpim.org/2005/0403/04032005_nalini.htm |date=18 February 2012 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120601014029/http://charm.cs.uiuc.edu/~bhatele/hindi/hindi_intro.htm Bhatele, Abhinav: Introduction To Hindi] (Archived 1 June 2012)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindi}} Category:Belt regions Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Central Indo-Aryan languages Category:Language geography