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THE HINDI LANGUAGE and ITS NEIGHBOURS 3 more closely connected in origin with Punjabi, and Bihar! with Bengali, than with the other languages here grouped with them. Moreover Urdu, whose literature is here excluded, is developed from a dialect of Western Hindi. But the justification for grouping these literatures together lies in this, that w^hereas Punjabi and Bengali and Urdu have developed modern literatures which are proceeding each on its own lines, the languages whose literary history is contained in this book have become closely connected in their literary development. In the areas where they are spoken "High Hindi" has come to be accepted as a literary language by almost all those who do not use Urdu, and though the older vernaculars are still used for poetical compositions, not one of them is develop- ing a separate prose literature of its own. Moreover, though considered by scholars as distinct, they are closely related languages which have mutually influ- enced each other, and the literature of any one of these vernaculars is to a large extent understood by those who speak one of the others. These languages are spoken by over a hundred million people. As the literature dealt with in the following pages is really connected with distinct though cognate lan- guages it is more accurate to describe it, as Sir George Grierson has done, as the " Modern Vernacular Litera- ture of Hindostan." But for the sake of convenience and to avoid circumlocution it will generally be referred to here as "Hindi Literature." The bulk of it is written in Western Hindi or Eastern Hindi. Bihar! literature is not very extensive and, except for the lyrics of Vidyapati, not very important. Rajasthan! literature mostly consists of bardic chronicles. Urdu as a literary language has an important point of difference from Hind! in the metres it employs. These follow Persian models, and the substance of Urdu poetry is largely influenced by Persian themes. Dialects.— The chief dialects of Rajasthani are MewatI, Marwarl, Jaipur!, and Malvl. Of these Marwari is the chief literary dialect. It is also called