Bajjika

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Bajjika
बज्जिका
Bajjika.svg
The word "Bajjika" written in Devanagari script
Native to India and Nepal
Region Bihar of India and Terai (Madhesh Province) of Nepal
Native speakers
c. 20 million (2013 estimate)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 vjk
Glottolog bajj1234

Bajjika is an Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in parts of Bihar, India and in Nepal. [1]

Contents

Territory and speakers

Bajjika language is spoken in the north-western part of Bihar, in a region popularly known as Tirhut. [2] It is mainly spoken in the Sitamarhi, Sheohar Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts of Bihar. [3] A 2013 estimate based on 2001 census data suggests that there were 20 million Bajjika speakers in Bihar. [4]

Bajjika is also spoken by a major population in Nepal, where it has 1,133,764 speakers according to the country's 2021 census. It is the most spoken language in Rautahat, Sarlahi and Mahottari district of Madhesh Province. [5] [6]

Relationship to Maithili

Bajjika has been classified as a dialect of Maithili. [7] [8] [9] Whether Bajjika is classified as a dialect of Maithili depends on whether 'Maithili' is understood as the term for the specific standard Maithili dialect spoken in northern Bihar, or as the name for the whole language as the group of all related dialects together. When the proponents of the Maithili language in Bihar demanded the use of Maithili-medium primary education in the early 20th century, the Angika and Bajjika-speaking people did not support them, and instead favoured Hindi-medium education. [10] The discussions around Bajjika's status as a minority language emerged in the 1950s. [3] In the 1960s and the 1970s, when the Maithili speakers demanded a separate Mithila state, the Angika and Bajjika speakers made counter-demands for recognition of their languages. [11]

Maithili proponents believe that the Government of Bihar and the pro-Hindi Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad promoted Angika and Bajjika as distinct languages to weaken the Maithili language movement. [10] People from mainly Maithil Brahmins and Karan Kayasthas castes supported the Maithili movement in the days when it was to be subsumed as a dialect of Hindi, hence anti-Maithili factions branded the Maithili Language as a Brahminical language while inciting various other castes in the Mithila region to project Angika and Bajjika as their mother tongues, attempting to break away from the Maithili-based regional identity. [12] According to linguist Pandit Rahul Sankrityayan, Bajjika and Maithili are two different dialects. [13] [14]

Academy

In a move aimed at protecting indigenous language and culture, the Bihar government has decided to set up two new academies to promote local dialects; Surjapuri and Bajjika, spoken in politically influential Seemanchal and Bajjikanchal regions of the state. [15]

Films in Bajjika

Lakshmi Elthin Hammar Angna (2009) was the first formal feature film in Bajjika. Sajan Aiha Doli le ke came after that. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

Bihari languages are a group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The Bihari languages are mainly spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, and also in Nepal. The most widely spoken languages of the Bihari group are Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithila (proposed Indian state)</span> Proposed state in India

Mithila is a proposed state in India, comprising the Maithili speaking region of Bihar and Jharkhand. The Maithili language has own traditional script, known as Mithilakshar. It is part of the historical Mithila region. The proposed state will also include Whole Angika and Bajjika speaking districts which are considered to be dialects of Maithili.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maithili language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in India and Nepal

Maithili is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of India and Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as the Nepal's Koshi and Madhesh Provinces. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. It is the second most commonly spoken language of Nepal. It is also one of the fourteen provincial official languages of Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magahi language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in India

Magahi, also known as Magadhi, is a Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheohar district</span> District of Bihar in India

Sheohar is an administrative district in the Mithila region of Bihar in India. The district headquarters are located at Sheohar, and the district is a part of Tirhut Division. This district was carved out of Sitamarhi district in 1994 due to the extreme efforts of Raghunath Jha, former Union Minister. Eminent Hindi Novelist, Dr. Bhagwati Sharan Mishra was the first District magistrate of Sheohar. Sivas used to have a guest house in the Mehsi town of his time, which is still located in the name of Raja Bazar in East Champaran.The district occupies an area of 349 km2 and has a population of 656,246. Sheohar is known for its greenery and cleanliness. Cadamba and teak are the principal trees of this district. Nilgai or blue bull is the regional animal of this area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosi division</span> Division of Bihar in India

Kosi division is an administrative geographical unit of Bihar state of India. Saharsa is the administrative headquarters of the division. Currently (2022), the division consists of Saharsa district, Madhepura district, and Supaul district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maithils</span> Maithili speaking ethno-linguistic group

Maithils, also known as Maithili people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group from the Indian subcontinent, who speak the Maithili language as their native language. They inhabit the Mithila region, which comprises Northern and Eastern Bihar and Northeastern Jharkhand in India and some adjoining districts of Nepal constituting Madhesh Province in addition to some terai districts of Bagmati and Koshi Provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithila (region)</span> Cultural region in India and Nepal, Asia

Mithila, also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothills of the Himalayas in the north. It comprises certain parts of Bihar and Jharkhand of India and adjoining districts of the Koshi Province, Bagmati Pradesh and Madhesh Province of Nepal. The native language in Mithila is Maithili, and its speakers are referred to as Maithils.

Mithila is a geographical and cultural region located in the Indian subcontinent. The native language is known as Maithili and its speakers are referred to as Maithils. The majority of the Mithila region falls within modern-day India, more specifically in the state of Bihar. Mithila is bounded in the north by the Himalayas, and in the south, west and east by the Ganges, Gandaki and Mahananda respectively. It extends into the southeastern Terai of Nepal. This region was also called Tirabhukti, the ancient name of Tirhut.

Hindi is one of the official languages in the Indian state of Bihar. Although Hindustani is the lingua-franca of the region, the majority of the people natively speak one of the Bihari languages.

Bihar has produced a number of poets and writers in its languages like Bhojpuri Maithili language, Magahi language, Angika and Bajjika including Bhikhari Thakur, Heera Dom, Viveki Rai, Satishwar Sahay Verma, Pandey Kapil etc. are writers of Bhojpuri, Vidyapati in Maithili. Besides its regional languages, Bihar has also produced writers in English such as Raj Kamal Jha, Amitava Kumar, Tabish Khair, Abdullah Khan, Abhay K, Siddhartha Chowdhury; and Hindi including Raja Radhika Raman Prasad Sinha, Acharya Ramlochan Saran, Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Divakar Prasad Vidyarthy, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', Ram Briksh Benipuri, Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Gopal Singh "Nepali", Ramesh Chandra Jha and Baba Nagarjun. Writer and Buddhist scholar Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan was born in Uttar Pradesh but spent his life in the land of Buddha, i.e., Bihar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Indo-Aryan languages</span> Language family of South Asia

The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Māgadhan languages, are spoken throughout the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, which includes Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal region, Tripura, Assam, and Odisha; alongside other regions surrounding the northeastern Himalayan corridor. Bengali is official language of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal, Tripura and the Barak valley of Assam while Assamese and Odia are the official languages of Assam and Odisha, respectively. The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages descend from Abahattha, which descends from Magadhan Apabhraṃśa and ultimately from Magadhi Prakrit.

Most of the languages of Bihar, the third most populous state of India, belong to the Bihari subgroup of the Indo-Aryan family. Chief among them are Bhojpuri, spoken in the west of the state, Maithili in the north, Magahi in center around capital Patna and in the south of the state. Maithili has official recognition under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The official language of Bihar is Modern Standard Hindi, with Standard Urdu serving as a second official language in 15 districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khortha language</span> Indo-Aryan dialect spoken in India

Khortha or alternatively classified as Eastern Magahi is a language variety spoken primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand, mainly in 16 districts of three divisions: North Chotanagpur, Palamu division and Santhal Pargana. Khortha is spoken by the Sadaans as native language and used by the tribal as a link language. It is the most spoken language variety of Jharkhand.

Tirhuta Panchang is a calendar followed by the Maithili community of India and Nepal. This calendar is one of the many Hindu calendars. It is a tropical solar Hindu calendar in which the year begins on the first day of Baishakh month i.e. Mesh Sankranti. Every year, this day falls on 13/14 April of the Gregorian Calendar

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angika</span> Bihari language of India and Nepal

Angika is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in some parts of the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand, as well as in parts of Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thēthi</span> Maithili dialect of India and Nepal

Thēthi, also known as Thēth, Thethiya, Thenthi, or Thati, is a Maithili dialect, mainly spoken in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. It is spoken mainly in Kosi, Purnia and Munger divisions of Bihar, India and in some of the adjoining districts of Nepal. It has 165,000 speakers in India according to the 2011 census.

Bihari Lal Fitrat was an Indian historian who focused on the history of Mithila. His major work was the Aina-i-Tirhut which was written in Urdu and published in 1883. The book was seen as important as it was considered the first serious attempt at cataloguing the history of Mithila.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithila State Movement</span> Movement for proposed separate Mithila state in India

Mithila State Movement is a movement advocating a separate Mithila state in India. This movement gained momentum in 1902 AD when Sir George Grierson, an official of the British Indian government, prepared a map of Mithila state by conducting a language-based survey. In 1881 AD, the word Mithila was added to the dictionary of the British India government. According to the founder, president Dr. Dhanakar Thakur of the International Maithili Council in the proposed Mithila state, 24 districts of Bihar and six districts of Jharkhand, a total of 30 districts, have been included, which has a population of about 70 million. At the same time, the area is 70 thousand square km.

<i>Aina-i-Tirhut</i> Book written by Bihari Lal Fitrat

'Aina-i-Tirhut is a history book written by Bihari Lal Fitrat in Urdu language. It is one of the first attempt to cataloguing and compiling the history of Mithila, Bihar. It was first published in 1883 by Bahar Kashmir Press, Lucknow. The book full name is 'Tawarikh-ul-Fitrat Maroof Aina-i-Tirhut'.

References

  1. Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias (2017-09-25). Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN   978-3-11-026128-8.
  2. Singh, Pradhuman (2021-01-19). Bihar General Knowledge Digest: Bestseller Book by Pradhuman Singh: Bihar General Knowledge Digest. Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN   978-93-5266-769-7.
  3. 1 2 Abhishek Kashyap 2014, p. 1.
  4. Abhishek Kashyap 2014, pp. 1–2.
  5. "2021 Nepal Census, Social Characteristics Tables" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  6. Abhishek Kashyap 2014, p. 2.
  7. Ethnologue
  8. "LSI Vol-5 part-2". dsal. p. 106.
  9. "LSI Vol-5 part-2". dsal. p. 14. Western Maithili
  10. 1 2 Mithilesh Kumar Jha 2017, p. 163.
  11. Kathleen Kuiper 2010, p. 57.
  12. Manish Kumar Thakur 2002, p. 208.
  13. Kalpanā (in Hindi). Bhāgīratha Śarmā. 1972.
  14. Śarmā, Śrīnivāsa (1974). Samakālīna ālocanā ke pratimāna (in Hindi). Maṇimaya Prakāśana.
  15. Outlook https://www.google.com/s/www.outlookindia.com/national/bihar-to-get-two-new-academies-to-promote-surjapuri-bajjika-dialects-news-225746/amp.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. "Bhojpuri artist to make first Bajjika film". The Times of India . 17 August 2009. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013.

Bibliography

Further reading