Home › Blog › Hindi

CBSE Class 9 Hindi 2026-27: The New Ganga Book, and the R1 and R2 Papers

✍️ Ishita Parikh 📅 24 September 2026 ⏱ 9 min read Hindi

Class 9 Hindi has a new book and a new set of names this year. The book is NCERT's Ganga (गंगा), one volume in place of the four that Class 9 used until now. The names are R1 and R2: CBSE's 2026-27 syllabus calls Hindi as a first language आर-1 and Hindi as a second language आर-2, where parents are used to hearing Course A and Course B.

Here is the book, and the two papers from the official CBSE curriculum document for Class IX. The usual caution applies double in a changeover year: check the booklist and the syllabus copy your school has issued, and if your child is in the second-language stream, ask which book the school is teaching from.

The new book: Ganga

Seven prose chapters, five poems, and a Bhasha Sangam piece that brings another Indian language alongside Hindi (Narsi Mehta's Gujarati वैष्णव जन तो तेने कहिए).

No.ChapterAuthor
1दो बैलों की कथाPremchand
2क्या लिखूँ?Padumlal Punnalal Bakhshi
3संवादहीनShekhar Joshi
4ऐसी भी बातें होती हैं (an interview with Lata Mangeshkar)Yatindra Mishra
5आखिरी चट्टान तकMohan Rakesh
6रीढ़ की हड्डीJagdishchandra Mathur
7मैं और मेरा देशKanhaiyalal Mishra 'Prabhakar'
8पदRaidas
9राम-लक्ष्मण-परशुराम संवादTulsidas
10भारती, जय, विजय करे!Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'
11झाँसी की रानीSubhadra Kumari Chauhan
12घर की यादBhawani Prasad Mishra

Families who know the old books will recognise several pieces: Premchand's two bullocks and Tulsidas's Parashurama scene were in Kshitij, Mathur's रीढ़ की हड्डी in Kritika. What is new is the single book for both streams, and the shorter list.

The two papers in one table

SectionR1, first languageR2, second language
क Unseen comprehension1414
ख Applied grammar1616
ग Textbook3030
घ Creative writing2020
Written paper8080
Internal assessment2020

Same totals, different content. Section क: R1 gets one prose passage of about 200 words and one poem of 80 to 100 words, seven marks each (three one-mark MCQs and two two-mark answers on each); R2 gets two prose passages and no poem. Section ख: twenty one-mark questions set, sixteen to answer, in both.

Grammar, R1Grammar, R2
Word formation: उपसर्ग 2, प्रत्यय 2Vocabulary from the textbook: synonyms 2, मुहावरे 2
संज्ञा, सर्वनाम, विशेषण, क्रिया, 4Word formation: उपसर्ग 2, प्रत्यय 2
Sentence types by meaning (अर्थ की दृष्टि से वाक्य-भेद), 4Punctuation (विराम चिह्न), 2
शब्दालंकार: अनुप्रास, यमक, श्लेष, 4संज्ञा 2, सर्वनाम 2, निपात 2
Writing, R1, 20Writing, R2, 20
Paragraph, about 120 words, one of three topics, 5Paragraph, about 100 words, one of three topics, 5
Informal letter, about 100 words, 5Informal letter, about 100 words, 5
Dialogue, about 80 words, 5Dialogue, about 80 words, 5
Notice, about 80 words, 5About 80 words on a given picture or scene, 5, with no choice

What this year is for

Class 9 is where the Class 10 paper is rehearsed. The Class 10 Course A grammar is voice, parsing, sentence types by structure and the meaning-based figures of speech; Class 9 R1 lays the parts of speech, the meaning-based sentence types and the sound-based figures underneath them. The Class 10 Course B grammar is phrases, transformation, compounds and idioms; Class 9 R2 lays vocabulary, word formation and the parts of speech underneath. A student who treats Class 9 as a light year meets the board year without the floor.

The other habit worth building now is the unseen passage a week. Fourteen marks on both papers, and the only section that cannot be revised the night before.

Where the marks go in Class 9

  1. The poem in section क, R1. Students read it as prose and miss the figure of speech the question is about.
  2. Word formation guessed. Prefix and suffix questions are four marks that come from a list; students treat them as vocabulary.
  3. The dialogue written as two paragraphs. Format first: names, turns, a beginning and an end.
  4. Word limits ignored. A 200-word paragraph for a 120-word question loses the format mark and the time.
  5. Gender agreement. Still the largest single loss in Hindi writing at every class; the rule, explained.

For the year after this, Class 10 Hindi Course A and Course B; for the choice between the two, Course A or Course B.

Class 9 Hindi, taught from the new book

Ms. Ishita Parikh taught Hindi in Mumbai schools for five years and holds an MA in Sanskrit, from which Hindi grammar is explained rather than memorised. Tuition follows the book and the stream the school has chosen, with Class 10 in view.

School Hindi tuition, Classes 1 to 12, online; in Mumbai, in person at Borivali West for Classes 1 to 10. Or book the free first class.

Questions people ask

Which textbook is used for CBSE Class 9 Hindi in 2026-27?

NCERT's new book Ganga, issued under the 2023 curriculum framework: seven prose chapters, five poems and a Bhasha Sangam piece. It replaces the four Class 9 books that went before, Kshitij and Kritika for Course A and Sparsh and Sanchayan for Course B. CBSE's syllabus points both the first-language and second-language papers at the NCERT book; confirm with your school which book your child's stream is using.

Does Class 9 Hindi still have Course A and Course B?

The two streams remain, but CBSE's 2026-27 document labels them R1, Hindi as a first language, and R2, Hindi as a second language. Both papers are 80 marks in the same four sections, with different grammar and writing lists. At Class 10 the names Course A and Course B continue.

What is the Class 9 Hindi paper pattern for 2026-27?

Unseen comprehension 14, applied grammar 16, textbook 30 and creative writing 20, plus 20 marks of internal assessment, for both streams. R1's unseen section has a prose passage and a poem; R2's has two prose passages.

What grammar is in Class 9 Hindi?

R1: word formation with prefixes and suffixes, the four parts of speech, sentence types by meaning, and the sound-based figures of speech anuprasa, yamaka and shlesha, four marks each. R2: vocabulary from the textbook, word formation, punctuation, and nouns, pronouns and nipata, weighted 4, 4, 2 and 6.

What writing tasks are in the Class 9 Hindi paper?

Both streams: a paragraph, an informal letter and a dialogue, five marks each. The fourth task differs: R1 writes a notice of about 80 words; R2 writes about 80 words on a picture, with no choice of question.

Found this helpful? Share it!

🎁 Start Your Hindi, Sanskrit or Vedic Maths Journey, FREE

Book a free 45-minute demo class with Ms. Ishita Parikh, no commitment required.

📚 Book Free Demo Class

About the Author

Ms. Ishita Parikh is a Sanskrit teacher and Vedic Maths instructor. She holds an MA (Acharya) in Sanskrit from Central Sanskrit University and a three-year Sanskrit diploma from the University of Mumbai, and was awarded the Elite grade in NPTEL's Spoken Sanskrit course at IIT Kharagpur. She is also a trained schoolteacher.

Read full bio →

Online Courses

Hindi, Sanskrit and Vedic Maths, live online, from beginner to advanced.

Learn Hindi Online Sanskrit Beginners Course Vedic Maths Course
🎁

Free Demo Class

Try a live class before you enrol, zero cost, zero obligation.

Book Free Demo