Bhojpuri language

Bhojpuri
भोजपुरी bhōjapurī بھوجپوري
The word "Bhojpuri" in Devanagari script
Native to	India, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, South Africa moribund in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago
Region	Nepal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand
Native speakers	40 million  (2001 census)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Bihari Bhojpuri
Dialects	Caribbean Hindustani (including Sarnami Hindi) Mauritian Hindi Northern (Gorakhpuri, Sarawaria, Basti) Western (Purbi, Benarsi) Southern (Kharwari) Tharu Bhojpuri Madhesi Domra Musahari
Writing system	Devanagari, Nastaliq, Kaithi
Language codes
ISO 639-2	bho
ISO 639-3	bho
Linguasphere	59-AAF-sa

Bhojpuri (Devanagari: भोजपुरी; Nastaliq: بھوجپوري;  listen ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bhojpuri region of North India and Nepal. It is chiefly spoken in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, in the western part of state of Bihar, and the northwestern part of Jharkhand in India. Bhojpuri is also spoken widely in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, and Mauritius. The variant of Bhojpuri of the Surinamese Hindustanis is also referred to as Sarnami Hindustani, Sarnami Hindi or just Sarnami and has experienced considerable Creole and Dutch lexical influence. More Indians in Suriname know Bhojpuri compared to Guyana and Trinidad where the language is largely forgotten. Bhojpuri is also spoken by Muhajirs in Pakistan but restricted to older family members (the younger ones speak Urdu).

Although Bhojpuri is a Bihari language, it is more similar to Awadhi, Braj Bhakha and Hindi than other Bihari languages like Magahi or Maithili.^{[citation needed]} Moreover it is quite different from Maithili. Some scholars trace the literacy history of Bhojpuri from Siddha Sahitya itself, as early as 8th century A.D. Kabir’s contribution of ‘nirgun’ poetry to Sant Sahitya certainly qualifies as recorded literature in Bhojpuri in the 15th century.The nineteenth century has such works as Deviksaracarita by Ramdatta Shukla (1884), Badmasdarpan by Teg Ali Teg (1895), and Jangal me Mangal and Nagari Vilap by Ram Garib Chaube in the later half of the nineteenth century. For official purposes Bhojpuri is considered part of Hindi.

The scholar, polymath and polyglot Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan wrote some works in Bhojpuri. Other eminent writers include Viveki Rai and Parichay Das. The number of Bhojpuri writers is small compared to the number of speakers. Some other notable Bhojpuri personalities are the freedom fighter Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, first president of India Rajendra Prasad, Manoj Bajpai, and former Indian prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Chandra Shekhar. Bihar Kokila Padma Shri Sharda Sinha is a famous Bhojpuri folk singer.

Recognition

Bhojpuri Academy chairperson Ravikant Dubey, in separate letters addressed to Lok Sabha (LS) Speaker Meira Kumar, leader of Opposition in LS Sushma Swaraj, AICC general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi, BJP MP Murli Manohar Joshi and several other MPs, seeking their support for inclusion of Bhojpuri language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Ravikant Dubey is the person who is struggling from many year to recognition of bhojpuri language. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh put forth a strong case for Bhojpuri calling it the language which belonged to heroic revolutionaries of society. Bhojpuri needs to be recognized in its own country first. For cultural reasons, it is usually seen as a dialect of Hindi. Magahi language which belongs to central part of Bihar has no backing due to the ignorance of its original speakers. If Bhojpuri is not recognized then it may face danger of extinction or misrepresentation in Art and culture of India which has linguistic diversities. Due to the persistent demand from media and Bhojpuri language activists to recognize it as an official language, P Chidambaram, Home Minister, Government of India announced to Lok Sabha speaker a few lines in Bhojpuri : “hum rauwa sabke bhavna samjhatani (I understand your feelings)”, proposing that Bhojpuri will be included in 8 Schedule of the Constitution and accorded the official status. Parliamentarians hope that the good news comes soon.

Bhojpuri literature

The Bhojpuri-speaking region, due to its rich tradition of creating leaders for building post-independence India such as first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad followed by many eminent politicians and humanitarians like Dr. Krishna Dev Upadhyaya, was never devoid of intellectual prominence which is evident in its literature.

Bhojpuri became one of the bases of the development of the official language of independent India, Hindi, in the past century. Bhartendu Harishchandra, who is considered the father of literary Hindi, was greatly influenced by the tone and style of Bhojpuri in his native region. Further development of Hindi was taken by prominent laureates such as Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi and Munshi Premchand from the Bhojpuri-speaking region. Bisharam was an important writer in bhojpuri . he wrote a special kind of 'birahaa'.PARICHAY DAS is a post modern poet. a new kind of poetry starts from his writings.Bhikhari Thakur, known as the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri, has also given theatre plays including the classics of Bidesiya. Pioneer Dr.Krishna Dev Upadhyaya from Ballia district devoted 60 years to researching and cataloging Bhojpuri folklore. Dr. H. S. Upadhyaya wrote the book Relationships of Hindu family as depicted in Bhojpuri folksongs (1996). Together they have catalogued thousands of Bhojpuri folksongs, riddles and proverbs from the western part of state of Bihar, Purvanchal (U.P), and northwestern part of Jharkhand.

The Bhojpuri literature has always remained contemporary. It was more of a body of folklore with folk music and poems prevailing. Literature in the written form started in the early 20th century. During the British era, then known as the "Northern Frontier Province language", Bhojpuri adopted a patriotic tone and after independence it turned to community. In later periods, following the low economic development of the Bhojpuri-speaking region, the literary work is more skewed towards the human sentiments and struggles of life.

Bhojpuri over the course of time has been written in various scripts by various people. Bhojpuri until late 19th century was commonly written in Kaithi script as well as Nasta'liq (Persian) script.

Parichay Das is a well known Writer, Thinker, Editor in Bhojpuri literature. He is pioneer poet in contemporary Bhojpuri Poetry. Bhojpuri post modern poetry begins from his writings. 'Chaaruta', 'Ek Naya Vinyaas', 'Sansad Bhavan ki Chhat Per Khada Ho Ke', 'Prithivi Se Ras Le Ke', 'Yugpat Sameekaran Me', Akaksha Se Adhik Satvar', 'Dhoosar Kavita', 'Kavita Chaturthi', 'Lipi-Alipi'etc. are his poetry collections. He is editor of 'Parichhan'- Maithili-Bhojpuri Magazine Published from Maithili-Bhojpuri Academy, Delhi Govt. He is also Editor of 'Indra Prasth Bhaarti'- Hindi Magazine, Published from Hindi Academy, Delhi Govt. He is Secretary Maithili-Bhojpuri Academy, Delhi Govt. and Secretary Hindi Academy, Delhi Govt. His original name is dr.ravindra nath srivastava. His wife vandana srivastava is a well known artist and painter of bhojpuri and modern style. He was born in Rampur, Devlaaas Village (Mau district's Mohammadabad Tehseel in Uttar Pradesh, India).

Writing System

Bhojpuri was historically written in Kaithi and Nastaliq. But after 1894, Devanagari replaced Nastaliq as a sole script for writing purpose.

Kaithi

It is script of Bhojpuri used by Kayastha.

Kaithi script computer written

Kaithi script was used for administrative purposes in the Mughal era for writing Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Maithili, Urdu, Magahi and Hindi from at least 16th century up to the first decade of 20th century. Government gazetteers report that Kaithi was used in a few districts of Bihar through the 1960s. It is possible that Kaithi is still used today in very limited capacity in these districts and in rural areas of north India. The significance of Kaithi grew when the British governments of the Bengal Presidency (of which Bihar and some southern districts of Nepal was territory) and the Northwestern provinces and Oudh selected the script for use in administration and education. The first impetus of growth was the standardization of written Kaithi in 1875 by the government of NWP&O for the purpose of adapting the script for use in formal education.

The second was the selection of Kaithi by the government of Bihar as the official script of the courts and administrative offices of the Bihar districts in 1880. Thereafter; Kaithi replaced the Persian script as the writing system of record in the judicial courts of Bihar. Additionally, on account of the rate of literacy in Kaithi, the governments of Bihar and NWP&O advocated Kaithi as the medium of written instruction in their primary schools.

Bhojpuri story written in Kaithi script, written by Babu Rama Smaran Lal in 1898

Nasta'liq (Persian)

Before 1880 all the administrative works in Bihar were done in this Persian script and possibly all the educated Muslims in the Bhojpuri speaking region wrote unofficial works in Nastaʿlīq script. Even today many people including Hindus use to write Bhojpuri in Nastaliq script.

a letter written to the civil court in Patna in Nasta'liq script in 1825

Devanagari

By 1894, official works were carried out in both Kaithi and Devanagari in Bihar which probably started giving way to replacement of Kaithi completely by Devanagari. At present almost all the Bhojpuri works are done in Devanagari even in the overseas islands where Bhojpuri is spoken.

Bhojpuri media

• Many Bhojpuri magazines and papers are published in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. 'Parichhan' is a contemporary important literary-cultural Maithili-Bhojpuri magazine, published by Maithili-Bhojpuri academy, Delhi Government and edited by eminent writer Parichay Das. The Sunday Indian, Bhojpuri is the world's only regular National News Magazine in Bhojpuri published by Planman Media, owned by Prof. Arindam Chaudhary and Edited by Onkareshwar Pandey. Sanesh is a first quarterly magazine from north east Guwahati. Bhojpuri Lok Lucknow
• Mahuaa TV and Hamar TV are Bhojpuri channels.
• There is also a weekly paper in Bhojpuri Language published from Birgunj, Parsa of Nepal. The editor and publisher is Dipendra Prasad Kanu.

Phonology

	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental/ Alveolar		Retroflex		Post-alv./ Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal	m				n		(ɳ)
Plosive	p pʰ	b bʱ			t̪ t̪ʰ	d̪ d̪ʱ	ʈ ʈʰ	ɖ ɖʱ			k kʰ	ɡ ɡʱ	q
Affricate									tʃ tʃʰ	dʒ dʒʱ
Fricative			f		s	z			ʃ		x	ɣ				ɦ
Tap or Flap					ɾ		(ɽ) (ɽʱ)
Approximant			ʋ		l				j

Bhojpuri speakers not acquainted with Hindi or Urdu would generally not be able to pronounce many of the above phonemes. The phonemes /q/, /ɣ/, /z/ and /f/ are not pronounced by most Bhojpuri-speakers, in fact almost all north Indians are not able to pronounce these phonemes as they are loans from Persian.

Furthermore the labio-dental approximant /ʋ/ (va) is often realized as [b] (ba), (y) is often merged with (j), while the palatal fricative /ʃ/ (sha) and the retroflex Fricative /ʂ/ (sha) are merged with /s/ by many speakers. also generally, "L" is often replaced by "R", like Hindi Kaala becomes Kariya in Bhojpuri, "Holi" becomes "Hori" etc.

Sample text

Following is a sample text, Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in day to day spoken Bhojpuri language.

Devanagari

दफा 1—सभे इंसान आजादे पैदा भयिल बाडें, औरी हक्क आ इज्जत के मामले मे बराबर हवें। उहनि जाना के अक्कल आ उनके रूह मे सही-गलत के समझ पहेलेहि से मिलल बा। एहि से उहनि जाना के भाइचारा के भाव रखे के चाहीं।

Nastaliq

دفعہ 1 - سبھے انسان اجادے پیدابھيل باڈے، اوري هكك آ عزت کےمعاملے میں برابر هوے. اهن جانا کے اككل آ ان روح میں شامل درست - غلط کی سمجھ پهےلےه سے ملل با. اےه سے اهن جانا کے بھاچارا کے بھاؤ رکھے کے چاہئیں.

Transliteration

Dafa 1—Sabhe insān āzāde paidā bhayīl bāreñ, aurī haqq ā izzat ke māmlē meñ barābar haveñ. Uhnī jānā ke aqqal ā unke rūh meñ sahi-galat ke samaž pahelehīñ se milal bā. Ehi se uhnī džānā ke bhāičārā ke bhāv rakhe ke čahīñ.

Translation (grammatical)

Article 1—All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Sample sentences

English sentence	Bhojpuri translation
What is your name?	Tahaar naav (/naam) kaa ha?
Come here.	Hiyan aava.
What are you doing?	Tu kaa karat hava?
That man is going.	Ooh marda jaat haan/ Ooh marda jaataa.
How are you?	Kaa haal-chaal ba?/Kaisan hava?
I'm fine.	Hum theek haiin.
I don't know.	Hum naikhi jaanat./ Hamka naikhe maalum.
He is my son.	Eeh hamaar chhaura(/laika) ha.
She is my daughter.	Eeh hamaar chhauri(/laiki) hiya.
What should i do?	Hum kaa kari?/ Hamka kaa kare ke chahi?
He is eating an apple.	Ooh ago sev khaat haan/ Ooh ago sev khaataa.
I saw the film last week.	Hum pichhla hafta filim dekhle haiin.
They went to the mosque.	Ooh sabhe mahjid gaile haan.
She slept the whole night.	Ooh bhar raat suttal rahe.
He has eaten.	Ooh khailas haan./ Ooh khaa lehlas.
He will eat.	Ooh khayi.
He will go.	Ooh jaayi.
Why did you tell him to go?	Tu ohke kaahe jaaye ke kahle hava?
Why is here crowded?	Hiyan maye aalam kaahe juttal ha?/ Hiyan hetna hujum kaahe ha?
I have to leave for Varanasi, next early morning.	Humka kaal fajire Banaras khatir nikle la haan.
Which is best Hindi newspaper.	Sabse badhiya Hindi akhbar kawan howe la.
Where should i go?	Hum kahaan jaai?
It is a book.	Ee ago kitab ha.
Will you give me your pen?	Tu hamke aapan kalam deba?
Yes, of course./ Why not.	Haan, jarur./ Kaahe na.
Which village, you hail from?	Tu kawan gaon se talluk rakhe la?/ Tahaar gaon kahaan ha?
Did he call you?	Kaa ooh tahraa bulavale haan?
This is our area.	Ee sabh apne jageer ha.
What's going on?	Kaa chalat haan?/ Kaa chal rahal ba?
Please say that again.	Tani phir se kaha.
Pleased to meet you.	Tohse mil ke badhiya lagal haan./ Tohse mil ke khusi bhayil haan.
Is everything alright?	Sab khairiyat se ha na?
How was your exam?	Tahaar itihaan kaisan rahe?
Are you married?	Tahaar biyah bhail ha?/ Tu shadishuda hava?
She don't understand anything.	Ohke jari na samajh me aave./ Ohke jariyo na bujhaa la.
You are very beautiful.	Tu badi suhnar hava. (to male)/ Tu badi suhnar hau. (to female)
He is looking at you.	Ooh tahraa dene taakat haan.
My life is full of problems.	Hamar jinigi khalsa pareshani se bharal ba.
Come with me.	Hamra saathe aava./ Hamra sange aava.
I'll come after you.	Hum taharaa paachhe aaib.
Go there	Hunva jaa.
I can do anything for you.	Hum tahraa vaaste kuchhu kar sakat haiin./ Hum tahraa khaatir kuchhuwo kar saki na.

Note that the above table is mostly based on talking to a male who is older or of the same age. At other times, "tahaar" tends to be "tohaar" and "tor" (for a younger person). While talking to someone, people often use the word "falan" or "falana" to refer to someone unnamed or unknown, like, "Falana ke babuji hiyan aail rahen" which means, His (which is unnamed or he who can not be named) father has come here.

Politeness

Bhojpuri syntax and vocabulary reflects a three tired system of politeness. Any verb can be conjugated as par three different tiers of politeness. For example, the verb "to come" in Bhojpuri is "aana" and the verb "to speak" is "bolna". The imperatives "come!" and "speak!"can thus be conjugated five different ways, each marking subtle variation in politeness and propriety. These permutations exclude a host of auxiliary verbs and expressions which can be added to these verbs to add even greater degree of subtle variation. For extremely polite or formal situations, pronoun is generally ignored.

Literary	[tu] āō	[tu] bōl
Casual and intimate	[tu] āō	[tu] bōl
Polite and intimate	[tu] āv'	[tu] bōl'
Formal yet intimate	[rau'ā] āīñ	[rau'ā] bōlīñ
Polite and formal	[āp] āīñ	[āp] bōlīñ
Extremely formal	āyā jā'e	bōlā jā'e

Similarly, adjectives are also marked for politeness and formality. For example, "Your" has several words (or synonym) but with a different tone of politeness- "tōr" (casual and intimate), "tōhār" (polite and intimate), "t'hār" (formal yet intimate), "rā'ur" (polite and formal) and "āp ke" (extremely formal).

Sample words

Kinship

English	Bhojpuri
Mother	Matari/Maai/Amma
Father	Baap/Babuji/Pitaji
Brother	Bhai/Bhaiya
Sister	Bahin/Didiya/Jiji
Son	Put/Chhaura/Beta
Daughter	Dhiya/Chhauri/Beti
Grandfather	Dada/Baba/Nana
Grandmother	Daadi/Nani
Brother-in-law	Devar/Saala/Jeeja
Sister-in-law	Bhaujai/Saali/Nanad

Color

English	Bhojpuri
Red	Laal
Yellow	Piyar
Orange	Narangi
Green	Hariyar
Blue	Bulu/Aasmani
Black	Kariya
Brown	Bhuwar
Maroon	Katthi

Name of days

English	Bhojpuri
Monday	Somaar
Tuesday	Mangar
Wednesday	Buddh
Thursday	Biyafe
Friday	Shuk
Saturday	Sanicchar
Sunday	Eitwaar

Interrogatives

English	Bhojpuri
What	Kaa
Why	Kaahe
Where	Kahan
When	Kab
Who	Kawan/Kay
Which	Kawn
How	Kaiise
Whom	Kekra
Whose	Kekkar
What Stuff	Kaachi
Which Stuff	Kaunchi

Dialects

Bhojpuri has three dialects identified in the literature as

1. Standard Bhojpuri (also referred to as Southern Standard)
2. Northern Bhojpuri,
3. Western Bhojpuri

Southern Standard Bhojpuri covers the areas of Bhojpur, Rohtas, Saran, Bhabua, Buxar, Siwan, Gopalganj in Bihar, and Ballia and eastern Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. One may also come across a local name ‘Chaparahiya’ in Saran.

Northern Bhojpuri covers the areas of Deoria, Gorakhpur and Basti in Uttar Pradesh and parts of Champaran in Bihar. Local names include ‘Gorakhpuri’ for the language in Deoria and eastern Gorakhpur, and ‘Sarwariya’ in western Gorakhpur and Basti. The variety spoken cast of Gandak river between Gorakhpuri Bhojpuri and Maithili in Champaran has a local name Pachhimahwa. Northern Bhojpuri has Maithili influence.

Western Bhojpuri includes the areas of Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh ‘Banarasi’ is a local name for the Banaras Bhojpuri. There is a very popular general name "Purbi" or "Benarsi" for Western Bhojpuri.

Bhojpuri in Pakistan

After independence of Pakistan in 1947, many Bhojpuri speaking Muslims migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi. The Bhojpuri dialect is currently spoken by elderly while the younger generation now speak standard Urdu. The Bhojpuri dialect is also known as Bihari dialect in Pakistan.

See also

• Languages of Nepal
• Awadhi Language
• Urdu
• Hindustani language
• Culture of Bhojpuri Region
• Bhojpuri region
• Bhojpuri cinema
• Languages with official status in India
• List of Indian languages by total speakers