The East Indian language, also known as ''Mobai Marathi'' and East Indian Mahratti, is the dominant dialect of the
Marathi-Konkani
The Marathi-Konkani languages are the mainland Southern Indic languages, spoken in Maharashtra and the Konkan region of India.
Languages
Languages are: Marathi, Konkani, Phudagi, Kadodi (Samvedi), Katkari, Varli and Andh.
Several of ...
languages spoken in
Bombay (Mumbai)
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, it has significant
Indo-Portuguese
Indo-Portuguese creoles are the several Portuguese creoles spoken in the erstwhile Portuguese Indian settlements, Cochin Portuguese Creole, Fort Bassein, Goa and Damaon, Portuguese Ceylon etc, in present-day India and Sri Lanka. These creoles a ...
influence and loanwords.
It does not have a unique script of its own, scripts of the other languages such as
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...
and the
Roman script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
are used by most of its speakers, who are the native Christians of the northern
Konkan division
The Konkan division is one of the six administrative divisions of Maharashtra state in India. It comprises the northern and central portions of the greater Konkani region, which were absorbed into Maharashtra owing to the States Reorganisati ...
. It is a very popular language used for songs and dramas.
Differences from standard Marathi
All pronouns have a change from ''yah'' to ''te''. Words in Marathi for yes, where, here, there, have different East Indian counterparts. Other grammatical nuances differ from standard-spoken Marathi.
Historical references
From the early days of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, there were no other Indian Christians in the North Konkan except the East Indian Catholics. Employments that were intended for Christians, were the monopoly of the
East Indians
The East Indians, also called East Indian Catholics or Bombay East Indians, are an ethno-religious Indian Christian community native to the Seven Islands of Bombay and the neighbouring Mumbai Metropolitan Area of the Konkan Division.
Histo ...
. With development, came in railways and steamship, a boon for the travelling public. And with that came a number of immigrants from
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
who were also known as Portuguese Christians. The British found it expedient to adopt a designation which would distinguish the Christians of North Konkan who were British subjects and the Goan, who were Portuguese subjects (Mangalorean Catholics were not Portuguese subjects at this point any more). Accordingly, on the occasion of The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the Christians of North Konkan, who were known as "Portuguese Christians" discarded that name and adopted the designation "East Indian". By the adoption of the name "East Indian" they wanted to impress upon the British Government of Bombay that they were the earliest Roman Catholic Subjects of the British Crown in this part of India, in as much as parts of Bombay, by its cession in 1661, were the first foothold the British acquired in India, after Surat. As the children of the soil, they urged on the Government, that they were entitled to certain natural rights and privileges as against the immigrants.
See also
*
Mahratti
Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...
*
Konknni
Konkani () is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 Scheduled_languages_of_India, scheduled languages mentioned in the ...
*
Bombay Hindi
Bombay Hindi, also known as ''Bambaiya Hindi'' or ''Mumbaiya Hindi'', is the Hindi dialect spoken in Mumbai (Bombay), in the Konkan region of India. Its vocabulary is largely from Hindustani, additionally, it has the predominant substratum ...
*
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
*
Indian English
Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. E ...
*
List of topics on the Portuguese Empire in the East
Topics related to the erstwhile Portuguese East Indies and that was later reduced into Portuguese Goa and Damaon (officially "''Estado da India''" or Portuguese India), with the capital at Velha Goa, moved to Panjim in the end.
Articles of History ...
References
External links
BOMBAY's ORIGINAL NATIVES - EASTINDIANS & KOLISWho are these East Indians you speak of?
{{Marathi language topics
Mumbai
Marathi language