Brij Bhasha

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Braj
Spoken in:	India
Region:	Uttar Pradesh
Total speakers:	42,000
Language family:	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Central Western Hindi Braj
Writing system:	Devanagari script
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`bra`
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	`bra`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Brij Bhasha, also called Braj Bhasha, Braj Bhakha, or Daihaati Zabaan (country tongue), is a Central Indo-Aryan language closely related to Hindi. In fact it is usually considered to be a dialect of Hindi, and was the predominant literary language before the switch to Khariboli in the 19th century. It is spoken by more than 42,000 people in the nebulously defined region of Braj Bhoomi, which was a political state in the era of the Mahabharata wars. According to ancient Hindu texts such as the Shrimad Bhagavatam, the kingdom of King Kams is described as spreading through the Braj (also known as Vrij or Vraj), where the incarnation of Krishna was born and spent his childhood days. This region lies in the Agra-Mathura area, and stretches as far as the environs of Delhi. In modern India, this area lies mostly in northwestern Uttar Pradesh, the eastern extremities of Rajasthan and the southern extremities of Haryana. Today Braj Bhoomi can be seen as a cultural-geographical entity rather than a proper state. It is the vernacular of the region and boasts a rich culture and literature by famous poets like Surdas, Bhai Gurdas and Amir Khusro. Brij Bhasha is very close to Avadhi, spoken in neighbouring Avadh region.

Brij bhasa is spoken in the cities of Mathura, Vrindavana, Agra, Firozabad, Hathras, Etah, Aligarh, Bareli, Bulandhshahar, Bharatpur and Dhaulpur. Much of the Hindi literature was developed in Brij in the medieval period. However, today Khariboli dialect has taken its place as the predominant standard dialect of Hindi.

In modern India, Braj Bhasha exists as an unofficial dialect spoken colloqially by natives of the region of Braj Bhoomi, with great cultural and religious significance. Much of Hindi poetry, especially that of 'Bhakti' or devotional poetry is in this language. Some devotional poems for Krishna are also composed in Braj Bhasha. The pioneering Hindi poet Aamir Khusro, also spoke and composed poetry in this language. Famous Braj Bhasha folk songs or poems include 'Chhaap tilak sab chheeni' by Aamir Khusro, and the popular devotional song ,"Main naahin maakhan khaayo" by Surdas. Braj bhasha is also the main language of Hindustani classical music compositions.

[edit] Braj Bhasha Literature

Studying Braj Bhasha literature, it can be noticed that most of the literature is of a mystical nature, related to the spiritual union of man with God. This is not at all surprising since virtually all of the poets were God-realised saints and their words are thus considered to be directly emanated from a divine source. Much of traditional Northern Indian literature shares this trait. All traditional Punjabi literature is similarly written by saints and is of a metaphysical and philosophical nature.

Another peculiar feature of Northern Indian literature is that the literature is mostly written from a female point of view, even by male poets. This is because the saints were in a state of transcendental, spiritual love, where they were metaphorically women reuniting with their beloved.

Examples of Brij bhasha literature include Buddha Charit by Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla.