Languages and Dialects of Bihar

After independence, Hindi was made the official language of Bihar while in 1984, Urdu was given the status of second official language Linguistic expert Dr. George Abraham Grierson has given the name Bihari to the various dialects of present Bihar. From the point of view of language family, mainly two classes of languages are spoken in Bihar

1. Languages of Aryan Group: Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili languages are included in this group of languages.
2. Languages of Mundari Group: Mundari, Kol, Santhali, Khadia, Ho (Jharkhand), Angika, Vajjika (Bihar) etc. are included in this language family.

Aryan Languages

Bhojpuri

• This language is spoken in Bhojpur, Rohtas, Buxar, Siwan, Saran, Kaimur, Gopalganj, Champaran districts of Bihar and many district of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
• Overseas Indians in Fiji, Mauritius, Suriname and Guyana etc. use Bhojpuri as the language of mutual conversation.
• Bhikhari Thakur made Bhojpuri popular through Natak Mandali, originating from Magadhi Apabhramsh.
• His composition Videshiya has been very popular. He is called Jan Kavi (People’s Poet) of Bhojpuri.
• Among other important names, the contribution of Rameshwar Singh ‘Kashyap’, Awadh-Bihari ‘Suman’, Umakant Verma, Ganesh Dutt Tiwari and Gorakhnath Choubey played a remarkable role in the development of Bhojpuri.
• Bhojpuri’s first film was made in 1961. (Ganga maiya tohe pyri chadaibon)

Maithili

• This language is spoken in Tirhut and Mithilanchal region of North Bihar. In 2003, this regional language of Bihar has been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The first composition of Maithili is considered to be Varna Ratnakar which was composed by Jyotirishwar Thakur.
• The most important poet of Maithili language was Vidyapati, who enriched Maithili literature through his poetry.
• Govind Das, Mahesh Thakur and Mahinath Thakur also contributed significantly role in the development of this language.
• Apart from Bihar, this language is also popular in bordering Nepal.

Magahi

• The dialect of Magadha region is called Magahi.
• Its area includes the districts of Patna, Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad etc. Ishaan is considered to be the first poet of Magahi dialect.
• The most popular Magahi writer was Yogeshwar Singh.
• Suresh Dubey is called as the father of this dialect style.

 Languahes of Mundari Group

 Angika

• Angika and Vajjika are the languages of the Munda family.
• If is mainly spoken in Bhagalpur and Munger People also know it by the name Bhagalpuri.
• Grierson has named it Chikachiki. Angika is a sub-dialect of Maithili. Dr. Tejanaraan Kushwaha has made it popular by writing the history of Angika Boli.

• The name of its ancient script of Angika language was Anga script.

• In ancient times, the popular language of Anga district was Angi.

Vajjika

• This is the dialect of Vajji district. Grierson calls it Western Maithili or Maithili Bhojpuri.
• The language and literature is related to the Jainism and Buddhism period.
• At present, it is spoken in the districts of Sitamarhi, Samastipur, Madhubani, Darbhanga etc.
• Vajjika has its own script Kaithi, the credit for its naming goes to Rahul Sankrityayan. 

Urdu Language

• • The development of Urdu language in Bihar started from the twelfth century and it really developed in the seventeenth century.
  • The first treatise on the history of Bihar in Urdu language, Nakshe Payadar, was composed by Ali Muhammad Shah Azimabadi.
  • His collection of ghazals is known as ‘Maukhana-e-Ilham’. The credit for spreading progressive Urdu ideology in Bihar is given to Suhail Azimabadi.
  • Qazi Abdul Badeed has been the credit for providing scientific basis for research on Urdu literature.
  • Bihar’s famous Urdu writer Abdul Samad’s novel ‘Do Gaj Zameen’ has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award.