Bhojpuri region

Last updated

Bhojpur
Region
Bhojpuri Speaking Region in India.png
Bhojpuri Speaking region of India
Continent Asia
Country India and Nepal
State Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhesh, Lumbini, and Gandaki
Covering territory Bihar

Uttar Pradesh

Jharkhand

Languages Bhojpuri
Area
 • Total72,004 km2 (27,801 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total76,308,751
 • Density1,100/km2 (2,700/sq mi)
Largest Cities

Bhojpur is a ethnolinguistic and cultural area in the Indian subcontinent where the Bhojpuri language is spoken as a mother tongue. The Bhojpuri region encompasses parts of the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand, and the Madhesh, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces of Nepal. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

Pre-history and Antiquity

The earliest known evidence of Human settlement in the region are the Cave painting of Kaimur and Mirzapur. [5] [6] [7] The first Neolithic settlement found in this region is in Chirand of Saran, which dates back 2500-1500 B.C. and is contemporary to the Harrapans. [8] Historically, the region was part of Malla and Kashi Mahajanapadas. [9] Varanasi, known as the center of the Bhojpuri cultural region is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. [10] [11]

Etymology

The Bhojpuri region received its name after the town of Bhojpur (Arrah), the headquarters of the Ujjainiya Rajputs of the former Shahabad district of Bihar. [12]

Culture

The economic and industrial growth of this region had been greatly hindered because of caste-guided political in-fighting and a huge population. [13]

The culture of Bhojpur is also very much present today in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Mauritius, and South Africa, due to the many Indian indentured laborers who were sent there by the ruling British in the mid 19th century to the early 20th century, and were from the Purvanchal-Bhojpur region.

Ganga Varanasiganga.jpg
Ganga

Language

a page of charyapada Charyapada.jpg
a page of charyapada

Bhojpuri language is a descendant of Magadhi Prakrit which started taking in shape during the reign of the Vardhana dynasty. [14] [15] The earliest form of Bhojpuri can be traced in the Siddha Sahitya and Charyapada as early as 7th century A.D. [16] [17] [18] It is an eastern Indo-Aryan language and one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family. [19] The Bhojpuri variant of Kaithi is the indigenous script of Bhojpuri language. [20] [21] [22]

Festivals

Chhath Puja and Durga Puja are the biggest festivals of Bhojpuri region. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

Other important festivals include Phagwah, Saraswati Puja, Deepavali, Dussehra, Vishwakarma Puja, Ramnavami, Teej, Jitiya, Janmashtami, Anant Chaturdashi, Dev Deepawali, Pidiya, Bahura, Godhan, Chauk Chanda, Raksha Bandhan, Nag Nathaiya, Naga Panchami, Karma, etc. [28] [29]

Music

Bhojpuri music is a form of Hindustani Classical Music and includes a broad array of Bhojpuri language performances in distinct style, both traditional and modern.

Art

Bhojpuri painting is a folk painting style that has flourished in the Bhojpuri region thousands of years ago. This painting style is a type of wall painting primarily done on temple walls or on walls of the rooms of newlymarried couples and the main motifs are that of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Although in recent times motifs of natural objects and life and struggles of village people are also depicted to make the painting more acceptable among the common people and bring the style close to reality. [30]

Textile arts

Traditional Banarasi sari with gold brocade. Saree on display at Dilli Haat.JPG
Traditional Banarasi sari with gold brocade.

Silk weaving is a manufacturing industry in Varanasi. Varanasi is known throughout India for its production of very fine silk and Banarasi saris and salwar suits.

Cuisine

Bhojpuri cuisine (Bhojpuri: 𑂦𑂷𑂔𑂣𑂳𑂩𑂲𑂨𑂰 𑂦𑂷𑂔) is a style of food preparation common among the Bhojpuri people. Bhojpuri foods are mostly mild and tend to be less hot in terms of spices used. The cuisine consists of both vegetable and meat dishes. [31]

Districts

Bhojpuri region of UP & Bihar Bhojpuri region.jpg
Bhojpuri region of UP & Bihar

Bhojpuri language is spoken in the districts of Western Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh which is called Purvanchal. [32]

Bihar (India)

Patna division: Bhojpur district, Buxar district, Kaimur district and Rohtas district.

Saran division: Saran district, Siwan district, Gopalganj district.

Tirhut division: West Champaran district, East Champaran district.

Uttar Pradesh (India)

Varanasi division: Chandauli district, Ghazipur district, Jaunpur district, Varanasi district.

Gorakhpur division: Deoria district, Gorakhpur district, Kushinagar district, Maharajganj district.

Azamgarh division: Azamgarh district, Ballia district, Mau district.

Mirzapur division: Mirzapur district, Sant Ravidas Nagar district, Sonbhadra district.

Basti division: Sant Kabir Nagar district, Siddharthnagar district, Basti district

Jharkhand (India)

Palamu division: Palamu district, Garhwa district

Madhesh Pradesh (Nepal)

Bara district, Parsa district, Rautahat district

Lumbini Pradesh (Nepal)

Parasi district, Rupandehi district

Note that Bhojpur district of Koshi Pradesh is not an Indo-Aryan Bhojpuri ethnolinguistic region, although it shares the same name.

Religion

According to the 2011 Census, Hindus form the majority in the Bhojpuri region, with 85.33% adhering to Hinduism. Islam is practiced by 14.5% of the population, while 0.52% profess other religions.

Religion in Bhojpuri Region (2011) [33]

   Hindu (85.33%)
   Muslim (14.15%)
  Others (0.52%)

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">Bihar</span> State in Eastern India

Bihar is a state in Eastern India. It is the third largest state by population, the 12th largest by area, and the 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Bengal to the east, and Jharkhand to the south. Bihar is split by the river Ganges, which flows from west to east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhojpuri language</span> Indo-Aryan language native to India and Nepal

Bhojpuri 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 western Jharkhand in India as well as western Madhesh and eastern Lumbini in Nepal. It is an eastern Indo Aryan language and as of 2000 it is spoken by about 5% of India's population. Bhojpuri is a descendant of Magadhi Prakrit and is related to Maithili, Magahi, Bangla, Odia, Assamese, and other eastern Indo-Aryan languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purvanchal</span> Region in Northern India

Purvanchal basically means the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh.

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

Awadhi, also known as Audhi, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh in northern India and in Terai region of western Nepal. The name Awadh is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city, which is regarded as the homeland of the Hindu god Rama. It was, along with Braj, used widely as a literary vehicle before being displaced by Hindi in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonbhadra district</span> District in Uttar Pradesh, India

Sonbhadra or Sonanchal is the second largest district by area of Uttar Pradesh after Lakhimpur Kheri. The district headquarters is in the town of Robertsganj. Sonbhadra is also known as the "Energy Capital of India" because there are multiple power plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chhath</span> Hindu festival

Chhath is an ancient Hindu festival native to the Indian subcontinent, more specifically, the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and the Nepalese Autonomous provinces of Koshi, Madhesh and Lumbini. Prayers during Chhath puja are dedicated to the solar deity, Lord Surya, to show gratitude for bestowing the bounties of life on earth and to request that certain wishes be granted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arrah</span> City in Bihar, India

Arrah is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, located near the confluence of the Ganges and Sone rivers, some 24 mi (39 km) from Danapur and 36 mi (58 km) from Patna.

Bhojpur may refer to the following places:

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

Kaimur district is one of the 38 districts of Bihar, India. The district headquarters are at Bhabua. Before 1991, it was part of Rohtas District. Till 1764 the region was a part of Ghazipur District and was a part of Kamsaar Raj and later it was a part of Chainpur Estate till 1837.

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

Bhojpur district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. Arrah city is the administrative headquarters of this district. Bhojpur district came into existence in 1972. Earlier it was the part of Shahabad district. This district is named "Bhojpur" after great Parmara King Bhoja as most early settlers were Rajput rulers of Parmara dynasty then called as Ujjainiya.

<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.

The demographics of Uttar Pradesh is a complex topic, which is undergoing dynamic change. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state, and the largest subdivision in the world. It has a population of about 199,812,341 as per the 2011 census. If it were a separate country, Uttar Pradesh would be the world's fifth most populous nation, next only to China, India, the United States of America and Indonesia. Uttar Pradesh has a population more than that of Pakistan. There is an average population density of 828 persons per km2 i.e. 2,146 per sq mi. The capital of Uttar Pradesh is Lucknow, and Prayagraj serves as the state’s judicial capital. Hindus and Muslims both consider the state as a holy place.

Bajjika (Western Maithili) is an Indo-Aryan language variety spoken in parts of Bihar, India and in Nepal. It is closely related to Maithili (of which it is often considered a dialect).

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

Saran district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Indian state of Bihar. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chhapra district after the headquarters of the district, Chhapra. It is considered as one of the richest Zamindari of Bihar after Raj Darbhanga, Hathwa Raj, Bettiah Raj and Raj Najarganj, Saran Raj.

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">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.

The Bhojpuri people, also known as Bhojpuriya-sawb are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent who speak the Bhojpuri-language and inhabit the Bhojpur-Purvanchal region. This area is now divided between the western part of the Indian state of Bihar, the eastern part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, western Jharkhand, along with some neighbouring districts in the Madhya Pradesh and Madhesh and Lumbini of Nepal. A significant diaspora population of Bhojpuris can be found in Trinidad and Tobago, Netherlands, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, other parts of the Caribbean, Fiji, South Africa, and Mauritius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madhesh Province</span> Province of Nepal

Madhesh Province is a province of Nepal in the Terai region with an area of 9,661 km2 (3,730 sq mi) covering about 6.5% of the country's total area. It has a population of 6,126,288 as per the 2021 Nepal census, making it Nepal's most densely populated province and the smallest province by area. It borders Koshi Pradesh to the east and the north, Bagmati Province to the north, and India’s Bihar state to the south and the west. The border between Chitwan National Park and Parsa National Park acts as the provincial boundary in the west, and the Kosi River forms the provincial border in the east. The province includes eight districts, from Parsa in the west to Saptari in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumraon Raj</span> Princely state of the British Raj

Dumraon Raj was a zamindari fedual state in the erstwhile Shahabad district in the present-day Buxar district of Bihar ruled by the Ujjainiya dynasty. The name Dumraon Raj came from the capital town of Dumraon. During the time of Indian independence, Dumraon Raj covered an area of 2,330 km2 which streched from Buxar district in west Bihar to Ballia district in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh. In Ballia district, Dumraon Raj covered rights of more than 70 villages which are located on the banks of the Ganga river.

References

  1. ↑ Gopal Thakur Lohar (4 June 2006). A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Bhojpuri Language in Nepal.
  2. ↑ Jha, Hari Bansh. "The new name of Madhesh province surprises Nepal". ORF. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  3. ↑ Thakur, Gopal. "A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tribhuvan University in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in LINGUISTICS". Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation Submitted in Tribhuvan University.
  4. ↑ Thiel-Horstmann, M. (1969). "Sadani : a Bhojpuri dialect spoken in Chotanagpur". S2CID   127410862.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  5. ↑ "Kaimur Hills - Home to Prehistoric Tales". 2 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  6. ↑ "Bihar: Kaimur Rock Paintings". www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  7. ↑ Wakankar, Vishnu Shridhar (2005). Painted Rock Shelters of India. Directorate of Archaeology, Archives, and Museums, Government of Madhya Pradesh.
  8. ↑ Sinha, Chitta Ranjan Prasad (1990). Archaeology and Art: Krishna Deva Felicitation Volume. Ramanand Vidya Bhawan.
  9. ↑ Tivārī, Śaśiśekhara (1970). Bhojapurī lokoktiyām̐ (in Hindi). Bihāra-Rāshṭrabhāshā-Parishad.
  10. ↑ Juergensmeyer, Mark; Roof, Wade Clark (2012). Encyclopedia of Global Religion. SAGE. ISBN   978-0-7619-2729-7.
  11. ↑ Freitag, Sandria B. (1 January 1989). Collective Action and Community: Public Arenas and the Emergence of Communalism in North India. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-06439-3.
  12. ↑ Kolff, Dirk H.A. (2002) [First published 1990]. Naukar, Rajput, and sepoy : the ethnohistory of the military labour market in Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 160. ISBN   0-521-52305-2. The Bhojpuri region received its name after the town of Bhojpur, the ancient headquarters of the Ujjainiya Rajputs of the erstwhile Shahabad district of Bihar.
  13. ↑ "Art and Culture | Tourism, Education, Culture and History". www.epuinfo.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Publication of Spiritual, Religious and Literacy Books". vvpbooks.com. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  15. ↑ Tuṅga, Sudhāṃśu Śekhara (1995). Bengali and Other Related Dialects of South Assam. Mittal Publications. ISBN   978-81-7099-588-3.
  16. ↑ Tahmid, Syed Md. "Buddhist Charyapada & Bengali Identity".
  17. ↑ The Indo-Aryan languages. Dhanesh Jain, George Cardona. London: Routledge. 2007. ISBN   978-1-135-79711-9. OCLC   648298147.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. ↑ "Bhojpuri Language| Hindi Typing - HindiTypings.com". hinditypings.com. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  19. ↑ "Bhojpuri Language Resource". UNT Digital Library. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  20. ↑ Grierson, George Abraham (1881). A handbook to the Kayathi character. The Library of Congress. Calcutta, Thacker, Spink, and co.
  21. ↑ "Bhojpuri". Ethnologue. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  22. ↑ Grierson, George Abraham (1903). Linguistic Survey Of India Vol.5 Part.2.
  23. ↑ Desai, Mira K. (21 November 2021). Regional Language Television in India: Profiles and Perspectives. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-000-47008-6.
  24. ↑ "Chhath puja and the centrality of the Purvanchal community in Delhi politics". Hindustan Times. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  25. ↑ "Lok Yatra | Migration and Cultural Traditions of Bhojpuri Region" . Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  26. ↑ Vidyarthi, Lalita Prasad; Jha, Makhan; Saraswati, Baidyanath (1979). The Sacred Complex of Kashi: A Microcosm of Indian Civilization. Concept Publishing Company.
  27. ↑ Preston, Peter; Simpson-Housley, Paul (11 September 2002). Writing the City: Eden, Babylon and the New Jerusalem. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-134-84368-8.
  28. ↑ Shandilya, Rajeshwari (1 January 2009). Bharatiya Parva Evam Tyohar (in Hindi). Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN   978-81-7315-617-5.
  29. ↑ Ojhā, Satyadeva (2006). भोजपुरी कहावतें: एक सांस्कृतिक अध्ययन (in Hindi). Vani Prakashan. ISBN   978-81-8143-562-0.
  30. ↑ "Bhojpuri Painting". www.artsofindia.in. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  31. ↑ "Beyond 'litti chokha'". Mintlounge. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  32. ↑ "Culture of Bhojpuri Region". Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2018.. Discover Bihar, official website of Bihar Tourism.
  33. ↑ http://censusindia.gov.in/ [ dead link ]

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