Difference Between Hindi and Bengali

Last Updated : Sep 6, 2022 / By Piyush Yadav / Fact Checked / 4 mins

Hindi is the most spoken (primary) language native to India. It is an Indo-Aryan language written in Devanagari script. It was developed or influenced by an ancient language of India, Sanskrit.

Bengali is the second most spoken language in India, after Hindi. It is an Indo- Aryan language. It is also known as Bangla and is the national language of Bangladesh. It is part of the 22 scheduled languages of India.

Comparison Table Between Hindi and Bengali

Parameters of Comparison	Hindi	Bengali
What is it	Based on the 22 scheduled languages of India, Hindi is the widely (primary) spoken language in India.	Based on the 22 scheduled languages of India, Bengali is the second most widely spoken language.
Widely Spoken In	Hindi belt region – Bihar, MP, UP, Rajasthan, etc	Bengal, Assam, Bangladesh, etc
Script	Devanagari script	Brahmi script
Early Forms	Sauraseni, apabhrama, old Hindi, etc	Magadhi Prakrit, old Bengali, etc
Used To Describe	A language	A language, culture, food, people, etc., from the Bengal region.
Dialects	Braj bhasha, Khari Boli, Haryanvi, etc	Chittagonian, manbhumi, rarhi, etc

What is Hindi?

Hindi is a language spoken in India. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan family and is written in the Devanagari script (that contains 11 vowels and 33 consonants, written from left to right).

Hindi as a word is derived from a classical Persian word ‘Hendi’ (pronunciation) which means belonging to hind/ India. Awadhi, Maithil, etc., were replaced by the dialect of Delhi (Khari Boli), which is the basis of the modern standard Hindi.

There are various dialects in this language. The words in Hindi are divided into 5 principal categories – Tatsam, ardhatatsam, tadbhav, deshaj, and videshi.

Hindi is used while speaking, writing in many places. It is taught in schools and colleges as the first and second language (as per choice).

What is Bengali?

Bengali is also known as Bangla (internal name), is a language that is spoken by people in India and Bangladesh. It is an Indo-Aryan language; it is common or the bridge language of the Bengal region and known as the national language of Bangladesh.

The Bengali literature has been developed and evolved since the Bengali Renaissance. The Bengali language movement (in east Bengal, now Bangladesh) was very famous in those days.

There are two types of forms in written Bengali –

1. Cholitobhasha – known as the colloquial form ( idioms and short verbs)
2. Sadhubhasha – a form of Bengali which is sankritised (with tatsama vocabulary)

Jana Gana Mana (India’s national anthem) and Amar Sonar Bangla (national anthem of Bangladesh) are both written in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore. Bengali is a cursive script that is derived from Brahmi script; it is an abugida type of segmental writing system.

Bengali as a word is also used to describe the culture, people, and food, etc., of Bengal, for example – Bengali sweets, Bengalis (people), etc.

Main Differences Between Hindi and Bengali

1. The dialects of Hindi are Braj bhasha, Khari Boli, Haryanvi, etc., whereas the dialects of Bengali are Chittagonian, manbhumi, rarhi, etc.
2. Early forms of Hindi are Sauraseni, apabhrama, old Hindi, whereas the early forms of Bengali are Magadhi Prakrit, old Bengali, etc.

Conclusion

People are connected to their languages, as they can and are used to express their feelings and convey their thoughts through them; it is a highly sensitive topic. A language may be more popular or widely spoken in few areas, but generally, all languages and the sentiments related to them are equal.

In the future, many more languages can take birth, or there might be changes in the way of speaking. Hindi and Bengali may be different in many ways, but the result is the same, as they both are used to read, write, speak and connect.

References

1. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2z8OAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=hindi&ots=1I2NbsCCki&sig=PDWMEXkhkMGDA-rbZR28nJNHVi8
2. https://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/2082/1/19762.pdf