Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

is the official language of the State of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of Wes ...

. Urdu is the second official language in 15 districts of the State. Maithili is a recognized language of the state. However, the majority of the people of Bihar speak one of the Bhojpuri languages, most of which as classified as dialects of Hindi during the census. The major ones are

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

, Maithili,

Magahi The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a 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. ...

and are spoken by large numbers. Maithili is a recognised regional language of India under the Eighth Schedule to the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. However speaker numbers for the languages of Bihar are limited because the more educated prefer to speak in Hindi (in formal situations) and so return this answer on the census, while many in rural areas and the urban poor, especially the illiterate, list their language as "Hindi" on the census as they regard that as the term for their language. Smaller communities of Bengali and Santali speakers are found in the eastern districts of the state.

History

Despite of the large number of speakers of

Bihari languages Bihari is a group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The Bihari languages are mainly spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and also in Nepal.Brass, Paul R. (1974). ''Language, Religion and Politics in North Ind ...

, they have not been constitutionally recognised in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, except Maithili which is recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters in Bihar. These languages was legally absorbed under the subordinate label of Hindi in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerment. The first success for spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the sole official language of the province. In this struggle between Hindi and Urdu, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region –

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

, Maithili and

were ignored. After independence Hindi was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950. Urdu became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar on 16 August 1989.

Official languages

is the official languages of the State.

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Maithili (; ''Maithilī'') is an

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic 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, ...

native to India and Nepal. In India, it is widely spoken in the

. Native speakers are also found in other states and union territories of India, most notably in

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...

and the

National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. According to

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

, there are about 12 million Maithili speakers in India as per 2011 Census. However, in the

2011 census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, It was reported by only 1,35,83,464 people as their mother tongue comprising about 1.12% of the total population of India, as many Maithili speakers view it as a dialect of Hindi and report their mother tongue as Hindi. In

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, it is spoken in the eastern

Terai , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...

, and is the second most prevalent language of Nepal.

Tirhuta The Tirhuta or Maithili script is the primary historical script for the Maithili language, as well as one of the historical scripts for Sanskrit. It is believed to have originated in the 10th century CE. It is very similar to Bengali–Assa ...

was formerly the primary script for written Maithili. Less commonly, it was also written in the local variant of

Kaithi Kaithi (), also called Kayathi () or Kayasthi (), is a historical Brahmic script that was used widely in parts of Northern and Eastern India, primarily in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In particular, it was us ...

. Today it is written in the

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 system), based on the ...

script.Yadava, Y. P. (2013). Linguistic context and language endangerment in Nepal
Nepalese Linguistics 28
262–274. In 2003, Maithili was included in the Eighth Schedule of the

Indian Constitution The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental r ...

as a recognised regional language of India, which allows it to be used in education, government, and other official contexts.Singh, P., & Singh, A. N. (2011). Finding Mithila between India's Centre and Periphery. ''Journal of Indian Law & Society'' 2: 147–181.

Urdu

Other languages and dialects of Bihar

Angika

Angika or Southern Maithili is mainly spoken in Anga area which includes

Munger Munger, formerly spelt as Monghyr, is a twin city and a Municipal Corporation situated in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the administrative headquarters of Munger district and Munger Division. Munger was one of the major cities in Eastern I ...

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Sil ...

and Banka districts of Bihar and the

Santhal Pargana division Santhal Pargana division constitutes one of the five district administration units known as the divisions of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Origin of name Santhal Pargana derives its name from two words: " Santhal", a major tribe of India ...

. Its speakers are estimated to be around 15 million. In addition to the Anga area, it is also spoken in some parts of

Purnia district Purnia District is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The city of Purnia is the administrative headquarters of this district. The city of Purnia has continued its tradition of hoisting the national flag at 12:07 am ...

of Bihar. However, in Purnia, it is a minority language as Purnia has a Maithil majority. Angika is classified as a dialect of Maithili by George A. Grierson in the ''

Linguistic Survey of India The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India, describing 364 languages and dialects. The Survey was first proposed by George Abraham Grierson, a member of the Indian Civil Service and a linguist w ...

'' (1903), although its speakers often perceive it as a distinct language.

Bajjika

Bajjika or Western Maithili is spoken in eastern India and Nepal. It is considered to be a dialect of the

Maithili language Maithili () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of Languages of India, India and Languages of Nepal, Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's easte ...

due to certain political bias despite being a language with a vast vocabulary, grammar Bajjika is spoken in the north-western part of Bihar which mostly spans the modern day Tirhut Division and thus is also referred to as Tirhutiya. In Bihar, it is mainly spoken in the

Samastipur Samastipur is a city and a municipal corporation (nagar nigam) in Bihar, India. It is the headquarter of Samastipur district and comes under Darbhanga division. The Budhi Gandak river flows through the town. It is one of the five railway divis ...

, Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sheohar districts. It is also spoken in a part of the Darbhanga district adjoining Muzaffarpur and

districts. Researcher Abhishek Kashyap (2013), based on the 2001 census data, estimated that there were 20 million Bajjika speakers in Bihar (including around 11.46 illiterate adults).

Bhojpuri

Bhojpuri has several dialects: Southern Bhojpuri, Northern Bhojpuri, Western Bhojpuri, and Nagpuria. Southern Standard Bhojpuri is prevalent in the old Shahabad district ( Buxar, Bhojpur, Rohtas, and Kaimur districts) and the Saran region ( Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj districts) in Bihar, and the eastern

Azamgarh Azamgarh is a city in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Azamgarh division, which consists of Ballia district, Ballia, Mau district, Mau and Azamgarh district, Azamgarh districts. Azam ...

(

Ballia Ballia is a city with a municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The eastern boundary of the city lies at the junction of two major rivers, the Ganges and the Ghaghara.The city is situated east of Varanasi and about 380 km ...

and Mau districts) and

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic tra ...

(eastern part of

Ghazipur Ghazipur is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Ghazipur city is the administrative headquarters of the Ghazipur district, one of the four districts that form the Varanasi division of Uttar Pradesh. The city of Ghazipur also constitu ...

district) regions in Uttar Pradesh. The dialect is also known as ''Kharwari''. It can be further divided into Shahabadi, Chhaprahiya and Pachhimahi. Northern Bhojpuri is common in the western Tirhut division (east and west Champaran districts) in Bihar, and Gorakhpur division ( Deoria,

Kushinagar Kushinagar ( Hindustani: or ; Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is an important and popular Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha attained ''parinirvana''. E ...

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur di ...

, and Maharajganj districts) and

Basti division Basti Division is an administrative geographical unit of Uttar Pradesh state of India. Basti is the administrative headquarters of the division. Currently (2005), the division consists following districts A district is a type of administra ...

( Basti, Sidharthanagar, and Sant Kabir Nagar districts) in Uttar Pradesh. It is also spoken in Nepal.Shaligram Shukla (1981), Bhojpuri Grammar, Georgetown University School of Language, Western Bhojpuri is prevalent in the areas of

(

, Chandauli, Jaunpur, and the western part of Ghazipur district),

( Azamgarh district), and

Mirzapur Mirzapur () is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, 827 km from Delhi and 733 km from Kolkata, almost 91 km from Prayagraj (formally known as Allahabad) and 61 km from Varanasi. It is known for its carpets and brassware industries, and the fol ...

, Sonbhadra, Sant Ravidas Nagar, and Bhadohi districts) in Uttar Pradesh. Banarasi is a local name for Bhojpuri, named after Banaras. Other names for Western Bhojpuri include ''Purbi'' and ''Benarsi''. Nagpuria Bhojpuri is the southernmost popular dialect, found in the

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the b ...

, particularly parts of Palamau and

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

. It has been influenced more by the

Magahi language The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a 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 deriv ...

than by other dialects.Parable of the prodigal son in Nagpuria Bhojpuri
, A Recording in 1920 by Shiva Sahay Lal, Linguistic Survey of India, Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago, USA It is sometimes referred to as Sadri. A more specific classification recognises the dialects of Bhojpuri as Bhojpuri Tharu, Domra, Madhesi, Musahari, Northern Standard Bhojpuri (Basti, Gorakhpuri, Sarawaria), Southern Standard Bhojpuri (Kharwari), and Western Standard Bhojpuri (Benarsi, Purbi). Bhojpuri Ethnologue World Languages (2009)

Magahi

Magahi is spoken in the Magadh region in southern Bihar. Its heartland is Patna, Jehanabad, Nalanda, Gaya, Nawada and Sheikhpura districts, with the centres of Magahi culture being Patna, earlier called Pataliputra, and Gaya. In the west, in western Patna district, Arwal and Aurangabad districts, Magahi blends into Bhojpuri spoken across the Son river. Across the Ganga Magahi borders various dialects closely-related to Maithili. In the east, in Lakhisarai and Jamui districts, Magahi blends into Angika.

Khortha

Khortha is variously considered a dialect of Magahi or a closely-related language. It is spoken in far-southern Bihar adjoining Jharkhand, on the Chota Nagpur plateau. Districts where Khortha is spoken include Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada and Jamui.

Santali

Santhali is a Munda language spoken by the Santhal Adivasis in its heartland in

Santhal Parganas Santhal Pargana division constitutes one of the five district administration units known as the divisions of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Origin of name Santhal Pargana derives its name from two words: " Santhal", a major tribe of India ...

in northeastern Jharkhand. As an extension of this population, Santhali is spoken by many people in Jamui, Banka, Munger and Bhagalpur districts. Many Santhali people were also brought to eastern Bihar (Purnia division) as agricultural workers, so large numbers are also found in Araria, Purnia, Katihar and Kishanganj districts.

Surjapuri

Surjapuri is a language variety spoken in Purnia division (Araria, Purnia, Katihar and Kishanganj districts), and adjoining areas of West Bengal, although it has been clubbed under Hindi in the census. In fact, it is more closely-related to Assamese and Bengali than Hindi, being the western extension of the Kamatpuri group of dialects like Rajbanshi in neighbouring Nepal and Rangpuri in nearby Bangladesh. In the west it blends with eastern dialects of Maithili.

Tharu

Tharu is spoken by many ethnic Tharu living in West Champaran district, adjoining

Chitwan district Chitwan District (, , ) is one of 77 districts of Nepal, and takes up the southwestern corner of Bagmati Province. Bharatpur, largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu, is its administrative centre. It covers . In 2011 it had a population of 579 ...

History

Official languages

Urdu

Other languages and dialects of Bihar

Angika

Bajjika

Bhojpuri

Magahi

Khortha

Santali

Surjapuri

Tharu

Classical languages of Bihar

Pali

Sanskrit

Writing systems

See also

References

External links