The Department of Hindi and Modern Indian Languages is one of the oldest and most important departments of this university. In terms of numbers also, it is the largest department of the university. After the establishment of Lucknow University
ty. After the establishment of Lucknow University in 1920, when teaching work started, the need for teaching Hindi, the main language of this region, was felt. As a result, in 1922, arrangements were made for the study of general Hindi under the 'Department of Oriental Studies'. At that time, it was necessary for the students of B.A. B.A.C. to pass this question paper. Mr. K. A. S. Iyer was its chairman. Pandit Badrinath Bhatt started teaching under his tutelage. Pandit Anoop Sharma was his first student. Dr. Deendayalu Gupta was appointed in 1930 to assist Bhatt ji, but due to Bhatt ji's untimely death, the entire responsibility of teaching fell on Gupta ji's shoulders. Postgraduate classes started in 1938-39 and Dr. Pitambar Dutt Badthwal was appointed. The first postgraduate student of this department was Pandit Harikrishna Awasthi, who later not only became the head of this department but also the Vice Chancellor of this university.
Between 1938 and 1946, many eminent people passed their BA and MA examinations from here, among whom Dr. Bhagirath Mishra, Dr. Gangaprasad Mishra, Dr. Hiralal Dixit, Dr. (Kunwar) Chandraprakash Singh, Dr. Kesari Narayan Shukla, Dr. Brajkishore Mishra etc. are notable. By then, the idea of a separate existence of this department affiliated to the Sanskrit department had started emerging; fortunately Acharya Narendradev was appointed the Vice Chancellor of this university. With the generous consent of Prof. Iyer and Dr. Gupta, Acharya Narendradev established an independent department of Hindi in 1947.
By 1946, Dr. Bhagirath Mishra, Dr. Kesari Narayan Shukla, Dr. Harikrishna Awasthi, Dr. Janaki Nath Singh 'Manoj' and Dr. Saryu Prasad Agarwal were appointed as expert teachers of poetics, devotional poetry, Ritikaal, modern poetry and linguistics respectively in this department. From 1949, linguistics was also included in the postgraduate course. In 1960, folk literature was given a place as a question paper. In the same year, a two-year optional course of linguistics and MA special courses were started. In 1974, a separate department of linguistics was created. In the meantime, Dr. Badthwal and Dr. Manoj died untimely.
The Silver Jubilee ceremony of the University was held in 1949. In this Acharya Hazariprasad Dwivedi was awarded the honorary degree of D.Litt. Along with this, with the efforts of Dr. Deendayal Gupta, the publication work of 'Seth Bholaram Saxeria Granthmala' started. Dr. Bhagirath Mishra's 'Hindi Kavyashastra Ka Itihaas' was the first publication of this Granthmala.
During Dr. Gupta's tenure, this department was expanded to include modern Indian languages along with Hindi. Hence, part-time teachers of Bengali and Marathi and full-time teachers of Tamil were appointed.
After Dr. Gupta, Dr. Kesari Narayan Shukla took over as the head of the Hindi department in 1968. He started the departmental lecture series. He also tried to give a new form to the curriculum. In this context, he also made several appointments for the posts from lecturer to professor. After the presidency of Prof. Harikrishna Awasthi from 1976 to 1977, Dr. Sarla Shukla became the professor and head of this department in 1978. During her tenure of 9 years, 'Sur-Panchshati' was organized in the department. After his retirement in 1987, Dr. Suryaprasad Dixit became the professor and head of this department. During his tenure, the Hindi department developed in all aspects, seeing which Dr. Bhagirath also said that "Now our department is in its golden period."
At the same time, the M.Phil. course was introduced and a systematic study of old Hindi (Adikavya), Hindi literature of foreign and non-Hindi states and research techniques was started. Dr. Dixit linked the topics of short research papers with lesser-known authors and regional literature. Several new question papers were introduced in MA, which linked this course with tradition, employment, national sentiment and value consciousness. The Indian Hindi Council recognized it as a new model. At the same time, with the help of UGC, a three-year course of practical Hindi was also introduced in BA.
In the last decade, dozens of national seminars, staging of many plays, many creative camps were organized in the department under the aegis of Srujanpeeth. Saturday lecture series was conducted in the memory of Dr. Brajkishore Mishra. The departmental library was enriched by dedicating it to Dr. Deendayalu. Research room was established in the memory of Pitambar Dutt Badthwal. A research committee was formed for its operation which celebrates Dr. Badthwal's birthday every year on 13 December as 'Research Day'. With the cooperation of Bharatiya Bhasha Sangam, Anurag Lecture series was organized on Indian Language Day, Tulsi Jayanti, 700 research papers were approved for Girija Kumar Mathur Smriti D.Litt degree and PhD degree.
Many students of the department were appointed to important positions in the country and abroad, among whom Dr. Kesarinarayan Shukla, Dr. Bhagirath Mishra, Dr. Vipinbihari Trivedi, Dr. Triloki Narayan Dixit, Dr. Premnarayan Tandon, Dr. Harikrishna Awasthi, Dr. Devkinandan Srivastava etc. are notable.
Meanwhile, the department published about 20 new books. The golden jubilee of publication was celebrated in 1993. The department's previously published magazine 'Gyanshikha' was relaunched and more than 30 special issues were published. The department also established a Hindi laboratory in which 15 documentaries were made with the cooperation of the journalism department. About 50 audio cassettes were prepared. The department is especially famous in the field of medieval literature and regional Awadhi literature.
After the retirement of Prof. Dixit, Prof. Induprabha Parashar took over as the Head of the Department in 1998. During the tenure of Prof. Parashar, a platform was prepared for the departmental activities. From 31 October 1998 to 9 June 2001, more than a hundred seminars were organized under the Sahcharya program. After his retirement in 2007, Prof. Premshankar Tiwari was appointed as the Head of the Department in 2008. Prof. Premshankar Tiwari remained on the post of Head from 2008-2011. During his tenure, many professors and vice-principals of the department were appointed and promoted to the post of professor, infrastructure work was done in the department, educational upgradation and cultural literary programs were conducted.
On completion of the tenure of Prof. Prem Shankar Tiwari, Prof. Kailash Devi Singh took over as the Head of the Hindi Department on 24 February 2011. Prof. Singh kept trying to make the department dynamic again. During her tenure, she organized international and national seminars in the department. She organized a lecture by Indrani Ramprasad from Mauritius on 'Global Perspective of Ramkatha' and 'Global Perspective of Maidan Ramlila' and also organized several district seminars.
During the tenure of Prof. Singh, the Uttar Pradesh government granted the Hindi department the status of 'Centre of Excellence Scheme' and sanctioned schemes worth Rs. 12,85,000/-. Due to his good efforts, a lab of 7 computers became functional in the Hindi laboratory of the department. Prof. Singh undertook the task of making the department functional by reorganizing its various units- library, publication, lecture series, cultural etc. During his tenure, 23 JRF candidates were registered for PhD degree. During the tenure of Prof. Singh, an international seminar was organized as a convention of the Indian Hindi Council on 15-16 October 2011, which proved to be the Maha Kumbh of Hindi.
On 31 March 2013, Prof. Kalicharan Snehi took over as the head of the Hindi department. During the tenure of Prof. Kalicharan 'Snehi', many monthly literary events were organized in the department, among which 'Kalidas Sach-Sach Batalana', solo poetry readings by renowned litterateurs of the country and the program focused on contemporary ideology in Nazariya Apna-Apna are notable. A dozen such programs were held on different genres, including international seminars/national seminars on contemporary social context and literature and social movements and Hindi literature.
On 31 March 2016, Prof. Prem Suman Sharma took over as the Head of the Department. In the short period so far, he has organized many programs in the department, among which Premchand Jayanti celebrations were held on 30 July, Tulsi Jayanti celebrations on 10 August, Babu Bhagwaticharan Verma and Amritlal Nagar Jayanti celebrations on 30 August, Hindi Teachers' Meet on 3 September, Hindi Language Day on 14 September and a National Social Emotional Seminar on 10-11 December 2016. He started the re-publication of the departmental research journal 'Gyanshikha'. His vision includes many important schemes such as - establishment of master class room, revival of departmental auditorium and departmental publication, organizing many national-international level programs and establishing the Hindi department on the global platform. Establishment of an independent study room for departmental researchers is also included in his action plans.
In March 2019, Prof. Yogendra Pratap Singh took over as the Head of the Department. From 2019 to 2022, many national and international seminars were organized, including many national seminars on Bharatendu Harishchandra, Amritlal Nagar, Mahatma Gandhi and Hindi Literature, Mahatma Gandhi and Jain Philosophy, Freedom Movement and Hindi Literature. The most notable three-day international seminar "Bharatiya Bhasha Mahotsav - 2020" was organized in collaboration with UP Bhasha Sansthan, in which about 150 scholars from India and abroad gave lectures. The CBSE curriculum for postgraduate Hindi was created and implemented in 2020 and the NEP curriculum for undergraduate Hindi literature and applied was created and implemented in 2021. On the occasion of the centenary year of Lucknow University, 'Gandhi Visheshank' of Hindi Asmita magazine of Hindi Department and 'Shodh Chhatraank' special issue of research papers written by research students were published. The book Madhyav Hindi Kavyavithika based on Graduate Hindi Literature N.E.P. was published. Two refreshers were organized in the year 2019 and year 2021 respectively.
Professor Rashmi Kumar took over as the Head of the Department in March 2022. Students who passed various competitive examinations were felicitated and the students who scored the highest marks in Masters Hindi were presented with a prize by the Bank of Baroda by the Honorable Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University, Professor Alok Kumar Rai. A plan has been made to publish the upcoming 06 books based on Graduate Hindi Literature N.E.P. by preparing a blueprint for the departmental teachers. The organization of refresher by the Hindi Department is certain from 05 July 2022.
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