Orientation Guide to India and the Hindi Culture: Religion, Traditions, Family Life, Urban and Rural Populations, Geography, History, Economy, Society and Security

Hindi is one of two official languages of India and is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world. Approximately 425 million speak Hindi as a first language and an additional 120 million speak it as a second language. Descended from the ancient Sanskrit language, Hindi contains influences from Persian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic,Portuguese, and even English. It is closely related to Bengali, Punjabi, and Gujarati, and is quite similar to Urdu—the two are almost completely mutually intelligible when spoken. Hindi is primarily spoken in most parts of the Gangetic Plain, as well as in north central India. Hindi is the predominant language in the union territory of Delhi and the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
India is the world’s largest democracy, and is enduring despite striking polarizations in religion, language, class, and caste. Geographically, the nation contains a variety of terrains and climates. With a population of over 1 billion, India is a linguistic mosaic in which even less common languages are spoken by hundreds of thousands of people. Economically, India has recently redefined itself as a center for high-tech operations and outsourcing, and is poised to become one of the world’s largest economies over the next few decades.
This book, produced by Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC), provides comprehensive information about India and the Hindi Culture. Chapter topics include religion, traditions, family life and differences in the lifestyles of urban and rural populations as well as detailed discussion of geography, history and their economy, form of government, society and security and much more.
114 pages; dozens of photos, illustration and charts in full color.