Magahi language

The Magahi language, also known as Magadhi, is a language spoken in parts of India and Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives. Magahi has approximately 18 million speakers.

It has a very rich and old tradition of folk songs and stories. It is spoken in eight districts in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, and has some speakers in Malda, West Bengal.

Though the number of speakers in Magahi is large, it has not been constitutionally recognised in India. In Bihar Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters.^[4] Magadhi was legally absorbed under Hindi in the 1961 Census.^[5]

History

The ancestor of Magahi, Magadhi Prakrit, formed in the Indian subcontinent in a region spanning what is now India and Nepal. These regions were part of the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges. It is believed to be the language spoken by Gautama Buddha . It was the official language of the Mauryan court and the edicts of Ashoka were composed in it.^[6]

The name Magahi is directly derived from the word Magadhi, and educated speakers of Magahi prefer to call it Magadhi rather than Magahi.^[7]

Grammarian Kachchayano wrote of the importance of Magadhi, "There is a language which is the root (of all languages); men and Brahmans spoke it at the commencement of the kalpa, who never before uttered a human accent, and even the supreme Buddhas spoke it: it is Magadhi."^[8]

The development of the Magahi language into its current form is unknown. However, language scholars have come to a conclusion that Magahi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Assamese and Oriya originated from the Magadhi Prakrit during the 8th to 11th centuries. These different dialects differentiated themselves and took their own course of growth and development. But it is not certain when exactly it took place. It was probably such an unidentified period during which modern Indian languages begin to take modern shape. By the end of the 12th century, the development of Apabhramsa reached its climax. Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Maithili and other modern languages took definite shape in their literary writings in the beginning of the 14th century. The distinct shape of Magadhi can be seen in the Dohakosha written by Sarahapa and Kauhapa. Magahi had a setback due to the transition period of Magadha administration.^[9] Traditionally, strolling bards recite long epic poems in this dialect, and it was because of this that the word "Magahi" came to mean "a bard". Kaithi is the script generally used for it. The pronunciation in Magahi is not as broad as in Maithili and there are a number of verbal forms for each person.^[10] Historically, Magahi had no famous written literature. There are many popular songs throughout the area in which the language is spoken, and strolling bards recite various long epic poems which are known more or less over the whole of Northern India. In Magahi spoken area folk singers sing a good number of ballads. Introduction of Urdu meant a setback to local languages as its Persian script was alien to local people.

The first success for spreading Hindi occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced Urdu as the official language of the province. After independence, Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950.^[11]

Speakers of Magahi

Magahi folk singers

Magadhi is spoken in the area which formed the core of the ancient kingdom of Magadha - the modern districts of Patna, Nalanda, Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura and Nawada. Magahi is bounded on the north by the various forms of Maithili spoken in Tirhut across the Ganga. On the west it is bounded by the Bhojpuri, On the northeast it is bounded by Maithili and Angika. A blend of Magahi and Bengali known as Kharostha (Khortha) is spoken by non-tribal populace in North Chotanagpur division of Jharkhand which comprises districts of Bokaro, Chatra, Dhanbad, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Ramgarh. The number of Magadhi speakers is difficult to indicate because of unreliable sources. For most of the magahi-speakers, Hindi is the generic name for their language. People of Southern Bihar and Northern Jharkhand are mostly speakers of Magadhi language.^[7] Current estimates indicate approximately 18 million Magadhi speakers.

Scripts and literary tradition

Magadhi is generally written using Devanagari script. A later-developed script of Magadhi is Kaithi.^[10] There have been efforts by scholars in the Magahi area to explore and identify a literary tradition for Magadhi. Magadhi has a rich tradition of folk literature, and in modern times there have been various activities in the publication of literary writing. Magahi Parishad was established in Patna in 1952, which was renamed Bihar Magahi Mandal. Magadhi, a journal, was started at the same time, which was renamed Bihan, meaning "tomorrow" or the coming dawn.Later Akhil Bhartiya Magahi Sahitya Sammelan was established by Dr Ram Prasad Singh in 1977 and published a well known magazine " Magahi Lok". Another very famous monthly journal was started by Magahi Academy, Gaya edited by Dr. Ram Prasad Singh, a well-known writer.He also got Sahitya Academy Award for his contribution in year 2002. He is famous writer of thirty-eight books in all field, commonly known as 'Magahi Ke Bhartendu'. Dr. Ram Prasad Singh Sahitya Puraskar has been awarded every year on his birthday (10 July) to renowned writers of Hindi & Folk literature. Another magazine "magadhi" is published by akhil bhartiya magahi bhasa sammelan. it is headed by Kavi Yogesh.^[12] Nalanda Open University offers various courses on Magahi.^[13]

Weekdays

Fruits and vegetables

Family relations

Spoken trends

Addition of “Waa” or “eeya” to nouns and sometimes verbs

For male nouns:
In Hindi with Magahi/Magadhi style – “सलमनवा के पास एगो मोटरसाइकिल है”
In true Magahi/Magadhi language - “सलमनवा के एगो मोटरसाइकिल हई”
English translation – Salman has a motorcycle.

For female nouns:
In Hindi with Magahi/Magadhi style – “रिमिया रिया सेनवा के बहन है”
In true Magahi/Magadhi language - “रिमिया रिया सेनवा के बहिन हई”
English translation – Rimi is the sister of Riya Sen

In Hindi with Magahi/Magadhi style – “लठीया चला के तोर कपरवे फोर देंगे”
In true Magahi/Magadhi language - “लठीया चला के तोहर/तोर कपरवे फोर देम ”
English translation – (I'll) throw the baton and crack your skull

In Hindi with Magahi/Magadhi style – “जानते हो, मोहना का बाप मर गया है”
In true Magahi/Magadhi language - “जानअ ह, मोहना के बाप / बाबूजी / बाबा /बावा मर् गेलथिन/गेलवा”
English translation – You know, Mohan's 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 Magahi/Magadhi style – हम बहुत नजदिके से आ रहें है
In true Magahi/Magadhi language – हम/हमनी बहुत नजदिके (बहुते नज़दीक)/भीरी से आवईत हिवअ/ आ रहली हे
English translation – We are coming from a very near place

Within Magahi, one can find lot of variation while moving from one area to other, mainly end of the sentence is with a typical tone like Hiva, thau, hein etc. It is a rich language with lot of difference one can see while saying something with respect to elder or one with peer or younger. For example, there are two counterparts of Hindi "aap" in existence described in following sentences -

In Hindi—आप आज बाजार गये थे क्या?

In Magahi (To an elder) -- तूँ आज बजार गेलहु हल का?

In Magahi (To highly respected persons or teachers) -- अपने आज बजार गेलथिन हल का?

In Magahi (To an younger) -- तूँ आज बजार गेलहीं हल का?

Magahi is a language of the common people in area in and around Patna. It has few indigenous written literature, though a number of folk-tales and popular songs have been handed down for centuries from mouth to mouth and this remain main form of knowledge transfer in literature. Strolling bards also known by name “Bhad” recite long epic poems in this dialect, and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of legendary princes and brave men of ancient time like "Alha aur udal". But no manuscriptic text has been seen except that nowadays people have given it a book form.

Phonology

Research work done in this field:

• Dr Munishwar Jha - "Magadhi And Its Formation," Calcutta Sanskrit College Research Series, 1967, 256 pp
• Dr Saryu Prasad - "A Descriptive Study of Magahi Phonology", Ph.D. thesis submitted to Patna University.
• Dr A.C. Sinha (1966) - "Phonology and Morphology of Magahi Dialect", Ph.D. thesis submitted to University of Poona.

• Dr Sweta Sinha (2014) - "The Prosody of Stress and Rhythm in Magahi", Ph.D. thesis submitted to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Morphology

Research work done in this field: Dr A.C. Sinha (1966) - "Phonology and Morphology of Magahi Dialect", Ph.D. thesis submitted to University of Poona.

See also

• Culture of Magadh Region
• Culture of Bhojpuri Region
• Culture of Mithila Region
• Culture of Angika Region

References

External links

• Magahi - A Historical language
• Jain Scriptures
• http://magahi-sahitya.blogspot.com/
• Magahi Detailed Description by Grierson, G.A.
• MAGAHI AND MAGADH: LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE by Lata Atreya, Smriti Singh, & Rajesh Kumar
• Magahī Phonology: A Descriptive Study by Saryoo Prasad

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