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Bhojpuri language
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Bhojpuri is a regional language spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. It is spoken in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, as well as an adjoining area of southern plains of Nepal. Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. The variant of Bhojpuri of the Surinamese Hindustanis, is also referred to Sarnami Hindi or just Sarnami when it is mixed with (Creole) English or Dutch words.
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Encyclopedia
Bhojpuri is a regional language spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. It is spoken in the western part of state of Bihar, the northwestern part of Jharkhand, and the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, as well as an adjoining area of southern plains of Nepal. Bhojpuri is also spoken in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. The variant of Bhojpuri of the Surinamese Hindustanis, is also referred to Sarnami Hindi or just Sarnami when it is mixed with (Creole) English or Dutch words. In Guyana and Trinidad a smaller percentage of the Indians know Bhojpuri compared to Suriname.
Others, including the government of India while taking census, disagree, and consider Bhojpuri to be a dialect of Hindi. But now the government of India is preparing to grant it statutory status as a national scheduled language.
Bhojpuri shares vocabulary with Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu and other Indo-Aryan languages of northern India. Bhojpuri and several closely related languages, including Maithili and Magadhi, are together known as the Bihari languages. They are part of the Eastern Zone group of Indo-Aryan languages which includes Bengali and Oriya.
There are numerous dialects of Bhojpuri, including three or four in eastern Uttar Pradesh alone.
The scholar and polyglot Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan had written some works in Bhojpuri. There have been other writers who have written in Bhojpuri but the number is small compared to the number of speakers. Some other notable Bhojpuri personalities are the first president of India Rajendra Prasad, Manoj Bajpai, and former Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Chandra Shekhar. Bihar Kokila Padma Shri Sharda Sinha is a famous Bhojpuri folk singers.
Number of speakers
According to an article published in Times of India, an estimated 70 million people of Uttar Pradesh and a further 80 million people in Bihar speak Bhojpuri as their first or second language. There are 6 million Bhojpuri speaking people are living outside the Bhojpuri heartlands of Bihar and Purvanchal. These areas include Nepal, especially Birgunj, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Uganda, Singapore, Trinidad & Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Great Britain, and the United States. This makes the total Bhojpuri speaking population in the world close to 150 million.
However, the official figures as per the Census of India 2001 are much lower. The census counts 33 million people in India to be speakers of the Bhojpuri dialect under the Hindi language sub-family.
Bhojpuri dialects, varieties, and creoles are also spoken in various parts of the world, including Brazil, Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, South Africa, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many colonizers had faced labor shortages and were unable to obtain slaves from Africa due to the abolition of slavery; thus, they imported many Indians as indentured servants to labor on plantations. Today, many Indians in the West Indies, Oceania, and South America still speak Bhojpuri as a native or second language.
The Bhojpuri language has been heavily influenced by other languages in many parts of the world. Mauritian Bhojpuri includes many Creole and English words, while the one spoken in Trinidad & Tobago has picked up some Caribbean words along with English.
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. Bhikhari Thakur, known as the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri, has also given theater 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 cataloged thousands of Bhojpuri folksongs, riddles and proverbs from the Purvanchal U.P, Bihar, Jharkand and Chotta Nagpuri districts near Bengal.
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 twentieth 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.
In the present era, the Bhojpuri literature is marked by the presence of writers and poets like Anand Sandhidoot, Pandeya Kapil and Ashok Dwivedi, Editor of the popular Bhojpuri magazine Paati (Ballia), Onkareshwar Pandey (writer & Editor of world's first Bhojpuri news weekly, from Delhi) and others.
In Maurititus, Dr. Sarita Boodhoo from the Mauritius Bhojpuri Institute has done volumes of work in following the Bhojpuri culture and language and documenting the indentured labourers' arrival on the island. Manoj Bhawuk came into limelight for his literary work in Bhojpuri Tasveer Zindagi ke and for his contributions in development of Bhojpuri Literature. In the United States, Sailesh Mishra, another contemporary Bhojpuri activist, poet and writer has been credited as the founder of Bhojpuri Association of North America (BANA) in 2005 and for his contributions in promoting Bhojpuri language and culture across the globe. He is also popularly known as the Creator of Bhojpuri Express Network (BEN) for uniting the online Bhojpuri community on the Internet. Further an avid Bhojpuri evangelist, Avinash Tripathi founded Bhojpuri Association of India (BHAI) in 2008 to represent the voice of Bhojpuri all over world. Newly associated and prominent part of this Bhojpuri literature is the Bhojpuri Sahitya Sammelan magazine with Arunesh Niran as its editor and Dr. Uday Prakash Pandey as co-editor. These people met a glory of reinvoking the links of Bhojpuri of Mauritius and India. There are many more efforts to avail the deserved value for Bhojpuri.
Writing scripts
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.
Mention of Bhojpuri literature cannot be complete without Bhikhari Thakur and his immemorial Bidesia. However, it is unforunate that no conscious attempt is being made to preserve his literature which is mainly in various folklores.
Kaithi
Kaithi script was used for administrative purposes in the Mughal era for writing Bhojpuri, Maithili, Bangla, Urdu, Magahi and Hindi from at least 16th century upto the first decade of 20th century. Government gazetteers report that Kaithi was used in a few districts of Bihar through the1960s.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 & Oudh (hereafter, NWP&O) 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 in1880.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.
Nasta'liq (Persian)
Before 1880 all the administrative works in Bihar was done in this Persian script and possibly all the educated Muslims in the Bhojpuri speaking region wrote unofficial works in Nasta'liq script.
Devanagiri
By 1894, official works were carried out in both Kaithi and Devanagiri in Bihar which probably started giving way to replacement of Kaithi completely by Devanagiri. At present almost all the Bhojpuri works are done in Devanagiri even in the overseas islands where Bhojpuri is spoken.
Introduction to usage and features
Many speakers of North Indian languages find the unique, distinct features of Bhojpuri humorous sounding. In Bollywood films, all the languages spoken in the villages of UP, Bihar, South Nepal, and North Jharkhand are often collectively referred to as Bhojpuri. Bhojpuri represents all the accents, tones, behaviours, village stories, idioms of the languages such as Awadhi, Braj bhasha, Kortha, Nagpuria, Magahi, and Maithili. Some of the features are discussed below:
Spoken trends
- Addition of Waa or eeya to Nouns and sometimes Verbs
For male Nouns:
In Hindi with Bhojpuri style ???????? ??? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ??
In true Bhojpuri language - ???????? ????/???? ?? ? ???? ????? ?? ?
English translation Shahrukh said that he is not my dog.
English in Bhojpuri style Shahrukhwa said that he is not my dog.
For female Nouns:
In Hindi with Bhojpuri style ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ??
In true Bhojpuri language - ?????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ????
English translation Rimi is the sister of Riya sen
English in Bhojpuri style Rimia is the sister of Riya senwa.
In Hindi with Bhojpuri style ????? ??? ?? ???????? ???? ??? ?????
In true Bhojpuri language - ????? ??? ?? ?????/???? ?????? ??? ???
English translation (I'll) throw the baton and crack your skull
English in Bhojpuri style (I'll) throw the batowa and crack your skullwa.
Notice that female names ending in ee gets eeya as in ???? becomes ?????? and "????" becomes "?????" similarly female names ending in uu gets uaa for example :
In Hindi with Bhojpuri style ??????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ??
In true Bhojpuri language - ??????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ?? / ??????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????
English translation Khusbus dad has died
English in Bhojpuri style Khusbuaas dad has died
Apart from these all other females names and other nouns get "waa" in their ends.
- Addition of "eeye" or "ey" in adverbs, adjectives and pronouns
In Hindi with Bhojpuri style ?? ???? ?????? ?? ? ???? ??
In true Bhojpuri language ?? ???? ??????/?????/????? ?? ??????/ ? ??? ????.
English translation I am coming from very near place
English in Bhojpuri style I am coming from very nearey place.
Pronunciation of words
Bhojpuri has very distinct way of pronouncing, apparent to most north Indians would be aware of it. For example:
??? ???? ??? is actually pronounced in Hindi as ?? ????? ??? whereas in Bhojpuri it would be ??? ?????? ???. The word for 'plenty' in Bhojpuri and Hindi is written as ???? while Hindi pronounces it ???? Bhojpuri retains ???? even while pronouncing. Whereas Hindi has kya hal hai in Bhojpuri the same phrase is pronounced ka hal ba.
Trend of word formation
Though to speakers of Hindi, some Bhojpuri words may appear "mispronounced", they simply result from the divergent evolutions of the related languages. For example:
- ????? is Hindi word for Guava, in Bhojpuri it is ?????
- ?????? is Hindi word (adapted from English) for cycle, in Bhojpuri many say ??????
- ?????? is a town in Champaran district of Bihar, many Bhojpuria people pronounce ??????
- ??????? is a Hindi word for to reach, in Bhojpuria people say ???????
Comparison of pronouns in Hindi dialects
| ???? ???? | ??????? | ???? | ?????? | ???? |
|---|
| ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? | | ??? | ?? | ?? | ?? | ?? |
Common words
Weekdays
| English | Bhojpuri | ??????? |
|---|
| Sunday | Eitwaar | ????? | | Monday | Somaar | ????? | | Tuesday | Mungar | ???? | | Wednesday | Budhh | ??? | | Thursday | Bifey | ???? | | Friday | Sook / Juma | ??? / ???? | | Saturday | Sunicher | ????? |
Numericals
In Bhojpuri, ½ or half is called "aadha" ( ??? ) and when ½ or half is used with numbers higher than 2 then "saadhe" ( ????? ) is added before the whole number.
For example: 7.5 would be "saadhe saat"( ????? ??? ).
Similarly, Ό or quarter is called "sawaa"( ??? ) and when a number is Ό or quarter less than a whole number then "pauney" ( ???? ) is added before the ceiling whole number.
For example: 7.25 would be "sawaa saat" ( ??? ??? ) and 7.75 would be called "pauney aath" ( ???? ?? ).
There are other special names for 1.5 , 2.5 , 6 , and 12. They are called "Dedh"( ???? ), "Adhaai"( ????? ), "Aadha Darzan"( ??? ?????? ) and "Darzan"( ?????? ) respectively.
For currencies Bhojpuri uses the terms "Takiaa" ( ??? ) , "Aanaa" ( ??? ), "Kaudi" ( ???? ), or "Paiisa" ( ???? ) or "Ropeya / Rupaiya"( ?????? / ?????? ). It must be remembered that pronunciation of these words vary greatly while using in various circumstances.
| English | Bhojpuri | ??????? |
|---|
| Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten | Sona, Ek, Du, Teen, Chaar, Paanch, Chau, Saat, Aath, Nau, Dus | ??????, ??, ??, ???, ???, ????, ??, ???, ??, ??, ?? | | One/Two/Five/Ten/20/50/100 Rupee Notes | Ek/Du/Paanch/Dus/Bees/Pachaas/Sai takia (only for currency paper) | ??/??/????/??/???/????/?? ????? | | 500/ 1000 or higher denomination Notes | Lamri or Numri | ???? ???? ???? | | One Rupee | Ek ropeya (for quoting price) | | | Coin | Sikka | | | 25 Paisa( a quarter) | Chau anni | | | 50 Paisa( a half) | Atth anni (Atth = Aath) | | | 75 Paisa(quarter to one) | Baarey anaa (Baarey = Baarah ) | | | 100 Paisa | Sorey anaa ( Sorey = Sorah) | |
Fruits and Vegetables
| English | Bhojpuri | ??????? | English | Bhojpuri | ??????? |
|---|
| Mango | Aam | ?? | Apple | Seo | ??? | | Orange | Samtola/Limu | ???????/???? | Lemon | Nimo | ???? | | Grapefruit | Mausmi | ????? | Papaya | Papita/Armewa | ?????/?????? | | Guava | Roonie/Amdur | ????/????? | ?? | Jaamun | ????? | | ?? | Shataalu | ????? | Pomegranate | Anaar | ???? | | Grape | Angoor | ????? | ?? | Shareefa | ????? | | Banana | Keraa | ???? | Lytchee | Litchi | ???? | | Tomato | Tamaatar | ????? | Jackfruit | Katahar | ???? | | ?? | Bhuikatahar | ??????? |
Colors
| English | Bhojpuri | ??????? |
|---|
| Red | Laal | ??? | | Green | Hariyur | ????? | | Blue | Aasmaani | ?????? | | Yellow | Piyar | ???? | | Pink | Gulaabi | ?????? | | Black | Kariya | ????? | | White | Ujjar | ????? | | Brown | Khairahu | ??????? | | Gray | Raakh | ??? | | Indigo | Neel | ??? | | Rainbow | Saabhaa | ???? / ????????? |
Measurements
| English | Bhojpuri | ??????? |
|---|
| Feet | Haath | ??? | | Mile | Kos | ??? |
Family Relations
| English | Bhojpuri | ??????? |
|---|
| Papa / Dad | Baabu / Abba | babuji | | Mummy / Mom | Maai / Maay / Didi / Ammi | mai | | Sister | Bahin / Didi / Baaji | bahin | | Brother | Bhaai / Bhaiya | | | Grand Dad | Baba / Daada / Babba | | | Grand Mom | Daai / Aji / Eeya / Daadi / Amma | |
Some Idioms (khisa pacheesa)
? ?? ??? ??? ??? ? ???? ????
???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??????
? ??? ???? ? ???? ??????
?? ????? ?? ?? ????? ??
???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ??? ????
???? ???? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???
???? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???
???? ? ???? ?????? ????
?? ???? ? ????? ??? ????
????? ???? ?????? ?????
??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????
??? ???? ?? ????? ?????
?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ? ???? ???? ?? ????? ?
???? ?? ???/?????? ? ???? ?? ????
??? ?? ?????? ??? ?????
???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ???
??? ?? ??-?? ??? ?? ???-??? ????? ?? ???? ? ?????? ????? ???
???? ??? ????, ??-?? ?????? ????
??? ??? ????? ?? ???
??? ?? ??? ???-??? ???? ?? ??? ????
?? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??
?????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????? ??
???? ?? ??? ????? ??
???? ?? ??? ?? ??????
????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???
??? ??? ?? ? ? ??? ?????
??? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????
??? ?????? ??, ????? ??? ??
Bhojpuri Samples
Some samples of Bhojpuri Language include:
. ??????/ ????? all-purpose Hindu greeting,the former(PraΡam) is a Sanskrit word and in Bhojpuri it is generally pronounced as Parnam, often translated as "I salute you" and in common usage simply means "hello" and even "goodbye."
- Pae Lagoo / Paalagi / Paa lagat tani - customary touching of feet to take the blessings of elders.
??? ??? / ?? ??? ?? ?? - Bye Bye or simply Hi!!.
??? / ???? / ???? ??? ??? ? My name is Bharat.
???? ?? ? How are you/ What's up?
The following are more commonly used:
- ka ha? ?? ?? (informal)- What's the matter?, sab samachar thik ba? ?? ?????? ??? ??? are you all fine?
???? ?? ??? ? Is the food ready?
??????? ????? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??. Birgunj is becoming a big city.
??????? ???? ?? ???????, ??????, ????, ?????? ? ????? ?? ???? ????? ????? People of Terai shoul love Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, Hindi, and Urdu.
???? ????? ??? ?? We are all Madheshi.
??????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? - We will kick the blooody Pahadia out of Terai.
??? ??? ???/ ??? ?? long live/stay happy
??? ??? ???? has the sun set?
???? ???? at what time?
Where is Mr. John? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? / ?????? ??? ???? ????? Where is Ramesh? - ?????? ???? ??? / ?????? ???? ?????
Who has Sita called? ???? ????? ?????? ?????
Bhojpuri in Nepal
Bhojpuri is spoken by at least 2.5 million people in Nepal (9% of the total population of Nepal), the districts categorised as Bhojpuria districts lying between the Mithilanchal and Awadh regions of Nepal are: Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Rupandehi. As people from hills have migrated in large numbers to these districts the native Bhojpuri language is suffering from adulteration and as Nepali has been imposed on people of these regions, most of the adulteration is due to Nepali language. However, the Nepali speakers in this region have somehow become modest speakers of Bhojpuri and can understand Bhojpuri quite well. And due to similarity, Maithili and Awadhi speakerscan also understand Bhojpuri quite well. Total Number of People who can understand the language in Nepal exceeds 12 million however who speak it as first or second tongue are around 4 million.
Some of the very popular local Radio stations in this region have been broadcasting news and entertainment materials in Bhojpuri, although due to Nepali speakers speaking bhojpuri in these radio stations, Bhojpuri sometimes appears awkward. Some of the popular radio stations for Bhojpuri are : Gadhimai FM, Indreni FM, Bijay FM, Rupandehi FM, Samyak FM, Radio Birgunj, Narayani FM and others are in the pipeline such as : Masti FM, Nobel FM, Kadambari FM, Rautahat FM, Gaur FM, Radio Namaste and Madhyabindu FM.
In Kathmandu, Music FM broadcasts Bhojpuri songs and some daily programmes in the language.
Radio Nepal, the state controlled radio broadcasts daily news in Bhojpuri at 6:05 PM local time daily. Above that, the state controlled Nepal Television 2 shows weekly Bhojpuri cultural programmes.
There are at least 5 Bhojpuri Newspapers being circulated on regular basis in this region.
Literature
The 2008 Booker Prize listed novel Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh tells the story of the emigration of Bhojpuri speakers to Mauritius in the nineteenth century, and is copiously laced with Bhojpuri terms, dialogues, songs and poems.
See also
External links
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