HINDI DIWAS FORTNIGHT THE SYMBOL OF PRIDE AND HONOUR OF INDIAN MEN ‘MOUSTACHE’ IS FEMININE AND THE SYMBOL OF IDENTITY OF INDIAN WOMEN ‘SINDOOR’ IS MASCULINE—ATUL PRAKASH

HINDI DIWAS FORTNIGHT

THE SYMBOL OF PRIDE AND HONOUR OF INDIAN MEN ‘MOUSTACHE’ IS FEMININE AND THE SYMBOL OF IDENTITY OF INDIAN WOMEN ‘SINDOOR’ IS MASCULINE—ATUL PRAKASH

9-SEP-ENG 2

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA-----------------------This interesting thing with the fact that the symbol of pride and honour of Indian men 'moustache' is a feminine word and the symbol of Indian women 'sindoor' is a masculine word. You must have heard about Operation Sindoor. Well, forgetting all these things, now we will discuss about tradition and principle in relation to gender discrimination of Hindi words i.e. feminine-masculine analysis.

As far as I know, the distinction of feminine-masculine in Hindi is used according to both tradition and principle.

Now let us talk about tradition. Sanskrit, the mother language of Hindi, has three genders - feminine, masculine and neuter. But Hindi has only two genders - feminine and masculine. And the question arises as to how to interpret words with neuter gender. So here it is important to understand that Hindi also has words with neuter gender.

Neuter Words: - In Hindi grammar, neuter words are those that are neither feminine nor masculine. These words often denote inanimate objects, emotions, or abstract things.

Characteristics of Neuter Words. Gender: Neuter words do not belong to any specific gender (female or male). Example: water, milk, knowledge, love, happiness, sorrow. Usage: There are no special gender markers for these words, and they are often used in singular or plural.

Neuter words are an important part of Hindi grammar and they are different from the specific gender classification. These words often represent objects, feelings, or abstract concepts.

Gender distinction in Hindi-Words in Hindi are of two genders: masculine and feminine. Masculine- Hindi words that indicate male gender (e.g. student, lion) and feminine gender is the noun that indicates female gender (e.g. student, lioness). Sometimes, contrary to the principle, distinction between feminine and masculine is made according to tradition. You will find many such examples in Hindi.

Types of Gender in Hindi-1. Masculine: The noun that indicates male gender is called masculine. Example: boy, king, teacher, student, lion. 2. Feminine: The noun that indicates female gender is called feminine. Example: girl, queen, teacher, student, lioness.

Principles (rules) of gender distinction--There are many principles of gender determination: Sense of male and female gender: Words used for men are masculine (eg - uncle, servant). Words used for women are feminine (eg - aunt, maid). Natural gender: Gender of some words is natural, like – mountain, sea, planet etc. are usually masculine (eg Himalaya, Indian Ocean), while river, earth etc. are usually feminine (eg Ganga).

On the basis of suffix: Nouns ending in 'aa' and 'i' are usually masculine. Words ending in 'i' are often feminine, like - language, hope. Feminine gender is made by adding some suffixes, like 'ladka' to 'ladki', 'bandar' to 'bandariya'. Gender of inanimate objects: Many inanimate objects are also grammatically masculine or feminine. Examples of masculine gender: house, city, garden, bungalow, milk, rice. Examples of feminine gender: language, hope, book, sweets, roti, pulses, dal.

Some important groups: Metals: mercury, brass, gold, copper are masculine, except silver is feminine. Gems: sapphire, topaz, pearl are masculine. Names of mountains and countries: Names of mountains are often masculine, like Himalaya, Bharat. Names of rivers: These are often feminine, like Ganga, Yamuna but Son river and Brahmaputra river are masculine.

Gender determination of administrative words in Hindi- Administrative words used in Hindi like- President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, District Magistrate, Collector, Sub Collector, Superintendent of Police etc. etc. are masculine words in Hindi and they are fixed i.e. their meaning and gender cannot be changed. Verbs, adjectives and pronouns change according to the natural or grammatical gender of Hindi words, which brings uniformity in the sentence.

And finally, about 'moustache' and 'vermillion'...After all, the matter of 'moustache' being 'feminine' and 'vermillion' being 'masculine' is still left. Now you think which grammar principle of Hindi will be used to prove why 'moustache' is feminine and why vermillion is masculine? Think about it and if you find a solution, then do let me know. Post carefully If you read, you will get the answer to this too - Atul Prakash Operation Sindoor is also related to the removal of sindoor from the forehead of women in the Pahalgam attack and the attack on Pakistani terrorist camps by the Indian Army is also a symbol of India's pride and glory i.e. "moustache"

Atul Prakash said that the word 'Hindi' used for the Hindi language is not an Indian word.  Most people do not know that the word 'Hindi' is not an Indian word but a foreign word. Let us now know how the word Hindi originated?

The word Hindi is believed to be related to 'Sindhu' (Standard Hindi: Sindhu). 'Sindhu' was the name given to the Indus river and on that basis, the word 'Hindi' was used to refer to the Indus river. They started calling the land around it Sindhu. This word Sindhu became 'Hindu', Hindi and then 'Hind' in Iranian. Later, Iranians gradually became familiar with more parts of India and the meaning of this word kept expanding and the word Hind became the name of the whole of India. By adding the Iranian suffix 'ik' to this (Hind+ik), 'Hindik' was formed which means 'of Hind'. The Greek word 'Indica' or the Latin 'India' or the English word 'India' etc. are other forms of this 'Hindik'.

The earliest use of this word for the Hindi language is found in Sharafuddin Yazdi's 'Zafarnaama' (1424). Prominent Urdu writers used to call their language Hindi or Hindvi till the 19th century.

Professor Mahaveer Saran Jain, while discussing the etymology of Hindi in his article titled "Advaita of Hindi and Urdu", has said that in the ancient Iranian language Avesta, the sound 's' was not pronounced, rather 's' was pronounced as 'h'. For example, the Sanskrit word 'Asura' had a cognate equivalent word 'Ahur' in Avesta. After Afghanistan, the entire region of Hindustan across the Indus river has also been called by the names 'Hind', 'Hindush' in ancient Persian literature and any object, language, thought here has been called 'Hindik' as an adjective, which means 'of Hind' or 'from Hind'. This word 'Hindik', through Arabic, became 'Indike', 'Indica' in Greek, 'India' in Latin and 'India' in English. According to another sentiment, India is the common Latinized form of the Arabic word Hindiya. In literature, the term 'Jubaan-e-Hindi' has been used for the languages ​​spoken in India (Hind). After coming to India, Arabic-Persian speakers used 'Jubaan-e-Hindi', 'Hindi Jubaan' or 'Hindi' to mean the language spoken around Delhi-Agra.