Bhojpuri language

Bhojpuri (IPA: ; Devanagari: , Kaithi: 𑂦𑂷𑂔𑂣𑂳𑂩𑂲, (IPA: [bʰoːdʒpʊɾiː])) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bhojpur-Purvanchal region of India and the Terai region of Nepal. It is chiefly spoken in eastern Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, and northwestern Jharkhand in India, as well as western Madhesh and eastern Lumbini in Nepal. According to the 2011 Census of India, it is spoken by approximately 50.5 million people. It is also a minority language in Fiji, Mauritius, and historically primarily in the Natal province of South Africa. Fiji Hindi, an official language of Fiji, is a variant of Awadhi and Bhojpuri spoken by the Indo-Fijians. Caribbean Hindustani, another language influenced by Awadhi and Bhojpuri is spoken by the Indo-Caribbean people in Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In Mauritius, it is recognised by the government and taught in university as well. Bhojpuri language is listed as potentially vulnerable in the UNESCO World Atlas of Languages.

Name The oldest presence of the word "Bhojpuri" is found as Bodjpooria in 1789 in the translator's preface of a book titled A Translation of the Sëir Mutaqherin, which is a translation of a Persian book written in 1780 by Ghulam Hussain Khan. The paragraph in which reads:

"Don't make so much noise" said of them in his Bhojpooria idiom, "we go to-day with the Frenghees, but we all are servant to Chëyt Singh, and may come back tomorrow with him and then question will not be about your roots, but about your wives and daughters." The word Bhojpuri is derived from Bhojpur. After the conquest of Chero and Ujjainiya Rajputs in 12th century, who were the descendants of Raja Bhoj from Ujjain, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh captured Shahabad and named their capital Bhojpur (City of Raja Bhoj). The seat of their government was Bhojpur village which was near Dumraon in Buxar. Two villages named Chhotka Bhojpur and Barka Bhojpur still exist in Buxar, where the ruins of their Navratna Fortress can still be seen. Slowly the word Bhojpur became the synonyms of the Shahabad or Arrah region (Today's Bhojpur district, Buxar, Kaimur and Rohtas) and the adjective Bhojpuri or Bhojpuriya extended to mean the language or people of Bhojpur and even beyond it. Apart from Bhojpuri in the Eastern UP and Western Bihar, there were other names also for the language and people, at different places, the Bhojpuriya in Mughal armies were used to called Buxariya. In Bengal, they called Paschhimas (Westerners) and Bhojpuri people also called them Deshwali or Khoṭṭa, in upper provinces like Oudh they called Purabiya. Besides these, Banarasi, Chhaprahiya, and Bangarahi has also used for the language and People. Rahul Sankrityayan has suggested two names for it i.e. Mallika or Malli (due to ancient tribe of Malla) and Kashiki (due to ancient Kashi). The Girmityas who were taken to British colonies called it simply Hindustani or Hindi and it became Fiji Hindi in Fiji and Caribbean Hindustani in the Caribbean region. Similarly, in South Africa, while often locally referred to by speakers as 'Hindustani', the variety brought by indentured labourers who embarked at Calcutta was also known as 'Kalkatia'.

Classification

Bhojpuri is an Indo-European language and belongs to the Eastern Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The Magahi and Maithili languages of Eastern Indo-Aryan group are closest living relatives of Bhojpuri. Odia, Bengali and Assamese are also closely related. Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili are grouped together as the Bihari languages. Together with the other branches of Eastern Indo-Aryan, the Bihari languages are considered to be direct descendants of the Magadhi Prakrit. Bhojpuri is classified as an Eastern Indo-Aryan Language because it has similar inflexion system to the other languages of the same family such as Bengali, Maithili and Odia. For example, the pronunciation of the vowel a is broad in Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, and sounds like o in Bengali, on moving westwards it becomes less broad but still can be differentiated from the sharp cut a in Middle Indo-Aryan. In Bhojpuri, the clear cut a and the drawled a, which sounds like aw in the word awl are present and the contrast between the two gives a different tone to the language. This drawled a is represented by Avagraha (ऽ), for instance, the word dekh'la, you see, is written as देेखऽलऽ. Other property of Eastern Indo Aryan languages is that the adjectives does not change with the noun. For instance, moṭā is the feminine form of moṭī in Hindi. However, as with Bengali, in Bhojpuri, only moṭ is used. The past and future tense in Bhojpuri is formed in same way as other Eastern Indo-Aryan Languages, by adding a suffix stating from -la and -ba respectively to the verb. Form example, I shall See, in Bengali is dekh-bo and in Bhojpuri is dekh-ab. Some scholars has also divided the East Indo Aryan or Magadhan languages in to three sub-groups viz. Western, Central and Eastern. Bengali, Assamese, Odia belongs to Eastern Magadhan, Maithili and Magahi to Central and Bhojpuri to western. Bhojpuri is classified as Western Magadhan because it has some properties which are peculiar to itself and are not present in other Magadhan Languages. Some striking differences are:

raürā or raüwā as an honorfic pronoun for second person along with the apne form is used Bhojpuri. apne form is their in other Magadhan Languages but raüwā is totally absent. Verb substantive in other Magadhan language is of -acch for but Bhojpuri has -baṭe and hawe. The simple present is made by Bhojpuri by adding a suffix starting from -la with the verb, but this is totally absent in the other languages of Magadhan group. Hence, he sees, is dēkhe-lā in Bhojpuri but in but dekhait-chhi in Maithili and dekhechhi in Bengali.

History

Bhojpuri is a descendant of Magadhi Prakrit which started taking shape during the reign of the Vardhana dynasty. Bāṇabhaṭṭa, in his Harshacharita has mentioned two poets named Isānchandra and Benibhārata who used to write in local language instead of Prakrit and Sanskrit.

Initial period (700–1100 A.D.) Some scholar enthusiasts like to trace the literary history of Bhojpuri from Siddha Sahitya, as early as the 8th century A.D.. But it's not widely accepted.

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