The Hindi Nidhi (Foundation)

The Hindi Foundation is the nationally recognized body for the promotion and propagation of the Hindi language in T&T.
The Hindi language has a long tradition in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) that is not limited to the practice of religion, but also important in the promotion of the aspects of Indian culture such as the art form, audio and visual media, and plays an integral part in the enrichment of our national and social practices. Since English is the global language of commerce and T&T is an English speaking country, Hindi, like other foreign language, has had challenges in establishing itself, especially among the ethnic communities to which it is most relevant. Such a predicament paved a way for the formation of the language organization known as the Hindi Nidhi (Foundation) established by Act No. 6 of T&T’s parliament in 1990. Since the Foundations establishment it has seek to promote and propagate the Hindi language within T&T and the wider Caribbean through the establishment of institutions that focus on teaching Hindi at primary, secondary and tertiary education levels and the development of curricula and material to be utilized for such tutelage; accreditation of examinations in Hindi; mobilization of national and international bodies involved in the fostering of Hindi through collaboration that sees to fruition conventions, seminars and lectures that advocate for and stimulate advancement in Hindi; hence fostering a deeper and mutual appreciation and understanding among all citizens in T&T and the wider Caribbean.
Since its existence the Foundation has been able to organize a wide range of conferences and seminars for the advancement of Hindi and establish the teaching of Hindi at primary and secondary school level. Currently, it is working on a standardized syllabus for all primary school in an aim to achieve the same teaching status as French and Spanish at school.
The organization looks forward to your continued support and participation in this noble venture of achieving the recognition of the Hindi language as a key element of cultural identity in T&T.

Hindi in Trinidad & Tobago

The Hindi Language or Modern Standard Hindi (MSH) is the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English. If it were to be considered alongside Urdu, as Hindustani, it would be the third most spoken language in the world. In fact, Hindustani is a pluricentric language, with two official registers, MSH and Modern Standard Urdu (MSH), each ascribing to its own literary traditions with significant overlap.
However, our focus here, is more so on the MSH register of Hindustani and why it bears such great significance here in Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). This story goes back to the epoch of Indian indentureship (1845-1917) when Indians from India were recruited to fill the void of cheap labor on the sugarcane estates in T&T after slavery was abolished in 1834. Many of the laborers were recruited from western Bihar and eastern United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh today), the heartland of the Bhojpuri dialect of the Hindustani language. During this period literature such as the Tulsi Ramacharitramanas and Kabir Das which was written in the Avadhi dialect of Hindustani and poems of Surdas and Meera Bai written in the Braj Bhasha dialect of Hindustani. These literary varieties were then the standard of the Hindustani language. However, as the British Empire expanded westwards from then Calcutta to Delhi a new contender began superseding Awadhi and Braj Bhasha for the title of standard Hindi. By the latter period indentureship the British had moved the capital of their territories from Calcutta to Delhi. This saw a drastic shift from Awadhi and Braj Bhasha being the recognized standard of Hindustani to the Hindustani dialect of Delhi earning that title. This Delhi Hindustani then became known as ‘Khari Boli’ or authoritative language, the vernacular on which today’s MSH and MSU is based.

By the end of indentureship and into the independence of the Indian subcontinent from the British and its partition into India and Pakistan, Khari Boli was now the standard variety of Hindustani being known as Hindi in India, written in the Devanagari script, and Urdu in Pakistan, being written in the Nastaliq (Arabic) script. Thus, all manuscripts from India was written in this new Hindi. In the erstwhile colonies, like Trinidad, access to India by their Indian diaspora for the commodity of culture to stay close to their roots, language being an essential aspect, saw a brand of Hindi of the newly independent India. In fact, this was the commodity of India’s language before independence. From as early as the end of indentureship, instruction materials to teach Hindi was already for that of Khari Boli and access to manuscripts by the early Local Classical singers for the lyrical content were published in Khari Boli Hindi. Today, the international brand of India’s identity is Khari Boli Hindi, known formally as MSH and the rest of the colonial diaspora has followed suit. Thus, MSH has become the ethnic language of much of the People of Indian Origin (PIO) of the diaspora.