THE ROOTS OF HINDI

Using forgotten manuscripts from little- known archives, Tyler W. Williams reveals Hindi's socially complex literary past

- -Alok Rai

The matter of 'Hindi' is an ideological minefield.

Research in Hindi is, therefore, a high-risk operation. Tripwires abound, and one is constantly required to utter the crucial passwords—rashtrabhasha, Sanskrit-putri, etc.—to earn safe passage. Apart from the familiar physical and institutional difficulties, there is the sense that any deviation from well-trodden discursive paths will end badly. It is much safer to be boring, and many are.

Tyler W. Williams's monograph—If All the World Were Paper: A History of Writing in Hindi—relies upon an archive that is practically untapped.

True to his title in its full literalness, Williams has worked on manuscript materials that have remained locked up in metal boxes for centuries on end.