Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Satna, Narmadapuram, Shahdol, Rewa and Morena being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second largest Indian state by area and the fifth largest state by population with over 72 million residents. It borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest.
The Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. Moreover, apart from the Indian subcontinent, large immigrant and expatriate Indo-Aryan–speaking communities live in Northwestern Europe, Western Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Southeast Africa, Polynesia and Australia, along with several million speakers of Romani languages primarily concentrated in Southeastern Europe. There are over 200 known Indo-Aryan languages.
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Gujarati. In India, it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Union. It is also the official language in the state of Gujarat, as well as an official language in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. As of 2011, Gujarati is the 6th most widely spoken language in India by number of native speakers, spoken by 55.5 million speakers which amounts to about 4.5% of the total Indian population. It is the 26th most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers as of 2007.
Marwari is a Rajasthani language spoken in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Marwari is also found in the neighbouring states of Gujarat and Haryana, some adjacent areas in Eastern parts of Pakistan, and some migrant communities in Nepal. With some 7.8 million or so speakers, it is one of the largest varieties of Rajasthani. Most speakers live in Rajasthan, with a quarter-million in Sindh and a tenth of that number in Nepal. There are two dozen dialects of Marwari.
Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also synonymous with the former state of Madhya Bharat which was later merged with Madhya Pradesh. At present the historical Malwa region includes districts of western Madhya Pradesh and parts of south-eastern Rajasthan. Sometimes the definition of Malwa is extended to include the Nimar region south of the Vindhyas.
Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages.
The Hindi Belt, also known as the Hindi Heartland, is a linguistic region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern and western India where various Central Indo-Aryan languages subsumed under the term 'Hindi' are spoken. The Hindi belt is sometimes also used to refer to nine Indian states whose official language is Hindi, namely Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the union territory of Chandigarh and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It is widely referred to as the Hindi Belt or Hindustani Belt.
Bhili, IPA: [bʱiːliː], is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in west-central India, in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. Other names for the language include Bhagoria and Bhilboli; several varieties are called Garasia. Bhili is a member of the Bhil languages, which are related to Gujarati and Rajasthani. The language is written using the Devanagari script.
Rajasthani refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also speakers in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Rajasthani varieties are closely related to and partially intelligible with their sister languages Gujarati and Sindhi. It is spoken by 65.04% of the population of Rajasthan. The comprehensibility between Rajasthani and Gujarati goes from 60 to 85% depending on the geographical extent of its dialects.
Pardhi is a Hindu tribe in India. The tribe is found mostly in Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh however small numbers can be found in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The word Pardhi is derived from the Marathi word ‘Paradh’ which means hunting and Sanskrit word ‘papardhi’ which means hunting or the game to be hunted. In some parts of India Pardhis are known as Meywarees. They also have various other names like Advichincher, Phans Pardhi, Phanse Pardhi, Langoli Pardhi, Bahelia, Bahellia, Chita Pardhi, Shikari, Takankar, Takia Pardhi. Pardhi tribe is divided in groups like Vaghri Pardhi and Phase Pardhi. These are further divided into subgroups like Pal Pardhi, Gav Pardhi, Takankar, Takari. Widely found surnames among them include Chauhan (Chavan), Rathod and Solanke.
Khargone district, formerly known as West Nimar district, is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The district lies in the Nimar region and is part of the Indore Division. The district headquarters is the city of Khargone, which lies south of the Indore metropolis, the headquarters of Indore district.
Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, while the Ministry of Culture and some historians also include the state of Rajasthan. The Geological Survey of India includes Maharashtra but excludes Rajasthan whereas Ministry of Minority Affairs includes Karnataka but excludes Rajasthan.
Dahod district is a district of Gujarat state in western India. This largely tribal district is mostly covered by forests and hills.
Jhabua is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Jhabua is the administrative headquarters of the district.
Banswara District has an area of 5,037 km2 (1,945 sq mi), which is 1.47% of Rajasthan state, India. The city of Banswara is the district headquarters. It is bounded on the north by Udaipur District, on the northeast by Pratapgarh District, on the east and southeast by Madhya Pradesh state, on the southwest by Gujarat state, and on the west by Dungarpur District.
Dhundhari is a dialect of Rajasthani spoken in the Dhundhar region of northeastern Rajasthan state, India. Dhundari-speaking people are found in four districts – Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Dausa, Tonk and some parts of Sikar
Vasavi is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Bhil people, though not intelligible with Bhili. The Vasavi live mainly in two districts straddling the Gujarat-Maharashtra border: Bharuch district in Gujarat and Dhule district of Maharashtra. Smaller communities may be found Vadodara and Surat districts of Gujarat and in south western Madhya Pradesh.
Chhipi is a caste of people with ancestral roots tracing back to India. They are found in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh of India. Chhipa are also found in Pakistan.
The Vasava are an Adivasi clan of the Bhil ethnic community found in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan in India. They have scheduled tribe status. In Rajasthan, they are also known as Vasave.
Rathwi Bareli is a Bhil language of India, spoken mainly in Gujarat. It is close to two other languages called Bareli, but not mutually intelligible with them. It has 81%–93% lexical similarity with Rathwi Bareli dialects, 67%–73% with Palya Bareli and 68%–79% with Pauri Bareli.
