Lexicography In Hindi: what is it?

Lexicography is the science of making dictionaries and it is the sub part of the bigger science ‘Lexicology” i.e the science of words.Lexicography traces its roots in ancient
India in the works like Sanskrit’s nighantu of Yaskacharya in 1000 BC. Similar works have also been done in other classical languages of
India like Tamil in the form of akarati nikhandu etc in the medieval period. Since that time, dictionaries of different varieties have been produced over the years in various Indian languages. Though many seem to have been lost with the passage of time, some are still available to us like amarkosh and mednikosh. Hindi (with Urdu) which is the 2^nd most spoken language in the world, is the official language of the Indian republic, also displays a unique lexicographical tradition. As observed in other lexicographical traditions, in Hindi lexicographical tradition also monolingual dictionaries preceded bilingual/multilingual dictionaries. The dictionaries of Nanddas, Banarsidas, Badridas, Haricharan Das, Chetan Vijay etc belong to this genre of Hindi Monolingual dictionaries. Though Hindi Lexicographical tradition dates far back than lexicographical traditions of languages like English, but by the end of 19^th century Hindi lexicography lagged behind the advances made in languages like English, French, German etc. In the 21^st century, we see a new ray of hope in Hindi lexicography by the advent of
India as a knowledge base for information technology..