Hindi Belt
The Hindi Belt, also known as the Hindi Heartland, is a linguistic region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India where various Northern, Central, Eastern and Western Indo-Aryan languages are spoken, which in a broader sense is termed as Hindi languages, with Standard Hindi (based on Dehlavi) serving as the lingua franca of the region.
Hindi Belt | |
|---|---|
Region | |
Area (red) where various languages considered by the census as Hindi are spoken natively | |
| Country | India |
| Major urban agglomerations (2011 census) | |
| States and Union Territories | List
|
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,355,456 km2 (523,344 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 563,766,118 |
| • Density | 420/km2 (1,100/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Hindi Bhashi |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| Scheduled Languages |
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The term "Hindi belt" is sometimes also used to refer to the nine Indian states whose official language is Modern Standard Hindi, namely Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as to the union territory of Chandigarh and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
It is also sometimes broadly referred to as the "Hindi–Urdu Belt" or "Hindustani Belt".