Like other major languages of the world, Hindi also has several dialects. These dialects are spread over the entire Hindi speaking region usually termed as Hindi Belt and constitute around 295 million native speakers of Hindi (Dialects and Standard Hindi). The region where  Hindi is spoken are Indian states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The large number of speakers makes, Hindi as the 4th position language in the world as per the largest number of its speakers. Hindi is also spoken in almost entire India as the second language of many Indians and it has influenced other languages of India. Because of such a large number of its native speakers, it is suggested that Hindi must be one of the official language of United Nations. In this regard, Indian government is pro-actively working on this matter.

There are many dialect of Hindi which may include major dialects termed as Proper Hindi. In this post, I would like keep the post simple to understand and show you only the  major dialects of Hindi. These major dialects of Hindi are:

Braj Bhasha (ब्रज भाषा)
Braj Bhasha, consists of two terms Braj – a region and Bhasha – Language,  is a major dialect of Hindi which is spoken in the northwestern part of state of Uttar Pradesh, the eastern part of state of Rajasthan and the southern part of state of Haryana . The speakers of this dialect belong to the region which is historically known as Braj (ब्रज also known as Vraj) in the Hindu epics of Mahabharata and is considered as the birth place of Hindu God, Krishna. This dialect is also known as Dehaati Zabaan (देहाती ज़बान, ‘country tongue’) and was a prominent dialect before 19th century. This dialect is very important in its contribution to the literature as most of the Hindi literature from the in the medieval period including Bhakti Kal (Devotion era c. 1375 to 1700).  The famous poets of Hindi like Surdas, Bhai Gurdas and Amir Khusro wrote in Braj Bhasha.

Khari boli (खड़ी बोली)
Khari boli, consists of two terms Khari – Standing, Boli – Dialect, Language, is the important dialect of Hindi which is spoken in Delhi, its surrounding area in the state of Uttar Pradesh as well as the western region of  state of Uttarakhand. At present, Khariboli dialect has taken its place as the predominant standard dialect of Hindi. As per the schols, it is believed to be developed between the period of 900-1200 CE. Hindi literature which are composed after 18th century are in Khari Boli.

Haryanvi (हरियाणवी )
Haryanvi is another major dialect of Hindi which is similar to the Standard Hindi. It is widely spoken in the northern state of Haryana as well as Delhi. As it seem, this dialect got its name from the state and this term is also used for the people from the Haryana. This dialect finds some similarity with another dialect of Hindi such as Braj Bhasha.

Bundeli (बुन्देली )
Bundeli is a dialect of Hindi which is spoken in the region of Bundelkhand region in the state of Madhya Pradesh as well as in southern parts of Uttar Pradesh. Bundelkhandi and Braj Bhasha find similarity with Braj Bhasha.

Awadhi (अवधी)
Awadhi,  which is also known with alternate names of Abadhi, Abadi, Abohi, Ambodhi, Avadhi and Baiswari, is another dialect of Hindi which is spoken in the historical region of Awadh (Oudh) of Uttar Pradesh and so comes its came to be Awadhi. It is also spoken in Uttarvarsh and also finds its speakers in the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi as well as neighboring country, Nepal.  The Hindi spoken in Fiji is also influenced by Awadhi.

Bagheli (बघेली or बाघेली)
Bagheli is a dialect of Hindi which is spoken in the Baghelkhand region of central India. The Bagheli speakers are found mainly in six districts of Madhya Pradesh especially Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Shahdol, Umaria and Anuppur.

Kannauji (क़न्नौजी)
Kannauji is a dialect of Hindi which is spoken in the parts of tstate of Kannauj (क़न्नौज) in the state of Uttar Pradesh as well as some other parts of the same state. Some consider Kannauji a seperate language of its own which is closely related to Hindi. Kannauji also has its two dialects like Tirhari and Transitional Kanauji, which is between standard Kanauji and Awadhi. In total, it boosts about 6 million native speakers.

Chhattisgarhi (छत्तीसगढ़ी)
Chhattisgarhi is a dialect of Hindi which is also the official language in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh and also spoken in adjacent areas of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Jharkhand. The region of Chhattisgarh  is also called Daksin Kosal in ancient time  and so the classical name of Chhattisgarhi is Kosali or Dakshin Kosali with historical significance. It has approximately 17.5 million speakers.