Hindi literature

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Hindi literature (Hindi: हिंदी साहित्य, hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi languages which have different writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃśa like Awadhi, and Marwari languages. Hindi literature is composed in three broad styles- गद्य (Gadya-prose), पद्य( Padya- poetry) and चंपू (Campū -Prosimetrum.)^[1] In terms of historical development, it is broadly classified into five prominent forms (genres) based on the date of production. They are:

• Ādi Kāl /Vīr-Gāthā Kāl (आदि काल/वीरगाथा काल) - [prior to & including 14th century CE.] This period is marked by Poems extolling brave warriors.
• Bhakti Kāl (भक्ति काल) - [14th–18th century CE.] Prominent genre in this period was Poems of Devotion due to Bhakti Movement.
• Rīti Kāl /Śṛṅgār Kāl (रीति काल/ शृंगार काल) - [18th–20th century CE.] The major genre of this period was Poems of Romance which were marked with high ornamentalism.
• Ādhunik Kāl (आधुनिक काल) - [from 1850 CE onwards.] Literally means Modern literature.
• Navyottar Kāl (नव्योत्तर काल) - [from 1980 CE onwards.] Literally means Post- Modern literature.

The literature was produced in dialects such as Khariboli, Braj, Bundeli, Awadhi, Kannauji, as well as Marwari and Chhattisgarhi.^[2] From the 20th century, works produced in Modern Standard Hindi, a register of Hindustani written in the Devanagari script, are sometimes regarded as the only basis of modern literature in Hindi (excluding Urdu literature of Hindustani language).^[3]