Languages of Rajasthan

Languages of Rajasthan

India is a land of a variety of linguistic communities, each of which share a common language and culture. Though there could be fifteen principal languages there are hundreds of thousands dialects that add to the vividness of the country. 18 languages are officially recognized in India of which Sanskrit and Tamil share a long history of more than 5,000 and 3,000 years respectively.

Languages of Rajasthan

The population of people speaking each language varies drastically. Rajasthani contains a vast literature written in different genres dating back to 1000 AD. The modern Rajasthani literature started with the works of Suryamal Misran. His most important works include the Vir Satsai and the Vansa Bhaskara. The Vir Satsai contains a collection of hundreds of couples.

The Vans Bhaskar describes about the Rajput princes who ruled over Rajputana during the lifetime of the poet. The world of Rajasthani language is colorful and varied. English is also widely spoken in this region. The translators and tourist guides are also available in Japanese, French, German and Spanish.

Rajasthani is the widely spoken language in Rajasthan and the total number of speakers are 36 million as per Census of India, 2001 in Rajasthan. It is spoken by around 80 million persons in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some adjacent areas of Pakistan. The Rajasthani language is a part of the Central Indo-Aryan family, although some classify it as a Western Indo-Aryan language.

The script of the Rajasthani language is Hindi and the four most important dialects are

Marwari: The ancient name of Marwari is Maru. Nearly thirteen million speakers in western Rajasthan comprising Churu, Bikaner, Nagaur, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Pali, Jalore, Jaisalmer, Barmer districts of Rajasthan and also in eastern parts of upper Sindh province of Pakistan. Marwari Literature includes the specialty of Sanskrit, Prakrit , Apbransh.

Bagri: Nearly five million speakers in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan, Sirsa and Hissar districts of Haryana, Firozepur and Muktsar districts of Punjab of India and Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar areas of Punjab of Pakistan.

Shekhawati: Nearly three million speakers in Churu, Jhunjhunu and Sikar districts of Rajasthan.

Dhundhari: Dhundhari is spoken in Jaipur , Dausa , Tonk , Ajmer, Karauli and Sawai Madhopur by nearly nine million person. It was first surveyed upon by G. Macliester who published specimens of fifteen varieties of Dhundhari spoken in the territory of the former state of Jaipur in 1898

Harauti: The sublanguage of Dhundhari called Hadoati is spoken in Kota , Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar . It is equally influenced by Gujrati and Marwari and about four million speakers of this dilect.

Mewari: about five million speakers in Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Udaipur, and Chittorgarh districts of Rajasthan state of India.

Malvi: Malvi is widely spoken in Malva region . Apart from Malva it is spoken in some parts of Mewar and MadhyaPradesh . It includes the specialities of Marwari and Malvi is very soothing and soft language . One special form of Malvi called Rangari is very famous in Rajputs of Malva.

Mewati: Mewati is widely spoken in North-West part of Alwar-Bharatpur and Gurgaon . It is highly influenced by Brig Language.

Vagari: It is widely spoken in southern part of Mewar. It is highly influenced by Gujarati.