Hindi literature includes literature in the various Hindi languages which have different writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃśa like Awadhi, and Marwari languages. Hindi literature is composed in three broad styles- गद्य (Gadya-prose), पद्य( Padya- poetry) and चम्प्पू In terms of historical development, it is broadly classified into five prominent forms (genres) based on the date of production. They are:Ādi Kāl /Vīr-Gāthā Kāl -- [prior to & including 14th century CE.] This period was marked by Poems extolling brave warriors. Bhakti Kāl --[14th–18th century CE.] Prominent genre in this period was Poems of Devotion due to Bhakti Movement. Rīti Kāl /Śṛṅgār Kāl -- [18th–20th century CE.] The major genre of this period is Poems of Romance which are marked with high ornamentalism. Ādhunik Kāl -- [from 1850 CE onwards.] Literally means Modern literature. Navyottar Kāl -- [from 1980 CE onwards.] Literally means Post- Modern literature.

Bihari Lal Chaube or Bihārī (1595–1663) was a Hindi poet, who is famous for writing the Satasaī in Brajbhasha, a collection of approximately seven hundred distichs, which is perhaps the most celebrated Hindi work of poetic art, as distinguished from narrative and simpler styles. Today it is considered the most well known book of the Ritikavya Kaal or 'Riti Kaal'(an era in which poets wrote poems for kings) of Hindi literature.