Hindi is one of the New Indo-Aryan languages. It developed as a variation (apabhramsa) of the classical language Sanskrit around the 7th century A.D. from a group of dialects known as the khari-boli. Down the ages, it was influenced by many other Indian and foreign languages like Arabic, Dravidian (Indian), English, Persian, Portuguese and Turkish. It has a rich history of literature. Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas, is considered to be the first work of literature in this language. Two of the pillars of Hindi literature are Harischandra Bhartendu and Premcand.The script is known as Devanagari.

From Hindi emerged another language known as Urdu which is now the official language of Pakistan. Initially only a colloquial, (a mixed language that soldiers of the Moslem invaders used to communicate with the local people) the language established itself as a key language for a large part of Northern India and ultimately became a literary language between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The more commonly spoken Hindi today includes a lot of Urdu. Hindi became the official language of the Republic of India in 1947 and it is mandatory to use this language for all official documents in Central Government offices.

More than 225 million people speak Hindi as their mother-tongue and even more than that use it as a second language within India. Outside India, Hindi speakers can be found everywhere where there is an Indian Diaspora.