THE HISTORY OF THE BHOJPURI LANGUAGE

by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar

When the Aryans first entered India, their first colony was saptasindhu, "the land of the seven rivers," which is nowadays known as the Punjab. The seven rivers are: Shatadru (Sutlej in English), Ira'vatii (Ravi), Vipa'sha' (Bia's), Chandrabhaga' (Chenub), Vitasta' (Jhalu'm), Sindus (Indus), and Kabul. Then the Aryans advanced up to the Jamuna river, that is, up to Haraya'na' (Haritdha'nya -- Hariyaha'nna -- Hariyaha'nna--Hariha'na). In the third stage the Aryans moved to Praya'ga (Pra means well or ideal, and ya'ga means action ; so Praya'ga means a place where all kinds of activities are properly performed. Thereafter the Aryans reached Ka'shi (Benares); the last colony of the Aryans was Ka'shi. The original inhabitants of this area were mainly Austriks, but there were some Mongolians and Aryans also. So the ancient inhabitants of Kashi as a whole were Arya-Austriko-Mongoloids.

The boundaries of a particular country, state or province are always subject to change. The recognised boundaries of the kingdom of Kashi were Praya'ga in the west, Na'ra'yanii Gan'd'aka in the east, the Himalayas in the north, and the Vindhyas in the south. The original name of this territory was the kingdom of Kashi, and its capital was the city of Kashi. One of the kings of this kingdom was King Bhoja. People used to say that Kashi is a holy place, and thus it should not become the capital city ; so King Bhoja shifted the capital and called it Bhojpura. Thus the language of this area was known as Bhojpuri after King Bhoja and his capital Bhojpura. This Bhojpuri language belongs to the eastern demi-Magadhi Pra'krta. All the languages of east India are derived from Magadhii Pra'krta, which the Buddhists call the Pali language. You know that the average lifespan of a language is 1000 years ; so when eastern Magadhii Pra'krta died after 1000 years, there arose two languages: eastern demi-Magadhii and western demi-Magadhii. One of the common characteristics of these languages is that, in the endings of the verbs in the past tense there is sound "la" : samajh gaila ('have you understood ?" in Bhojpuri) ; and in the future tense there is ba sound (ham jaiba in Bhojpuri, a'mi jabo in Bengali. In the present tense in eastern demi-Magadhii Pra'krti, the sound ca is used. For example, ham ja'ychii in Aungika, mo ja'ucho in Mithila, ami ja'cchi in Bengali, and mun jauchi in Oriya. But in the western demi-Magadhii languages, that is, Magahi and Bhojpuri, the ca sound is not used in the present tense. For instance, in ham ja'tarahalba'hi ("I am going" in Bhojpuri) and ham ja'tahi in Magahi, there is no ca sound. This is the recognised system in western demi-Magadhii.

Each language usually has several dialects. In Bhojpuri also there are three dialects: 1) A'rrah dialect 2) Varanasi dialect which is also called Kashika dialect 3) Campa'ran' dialect. The ancient name of Campa'ran' was Campaka'ran'ya. There is very little difference amongst Campa'ran' dialect, A'rra'h dialect, and Varanasi dialect. For instance, in some places people say ba'n'ii, in other places, ba'tii, and still in others kha'tiir or lah or ba'de. These minor local variations can be found, and although Bhojpuri is an east Indian language, it is slightly influenced by Shaorasenii Pra'krta.

In some areas there is also some difference in the verb endings, but not in all cases. For instances, karata' and karatiiya', gaila and gailun. These are the specialities of Bhojpuri. Its pronunciation is sam'vkta, that is, the pronunciation of a word ends in -a sound, as in manda'.

As the people of this area belong to Aryo-Austriko-Mongoloid stock, there are numerous Sam'skrta words in the language ; but the system of pronunciation is different from that of Sam'skrta. History shows that during the last phase of the Aryan colonisation, the Aryan influence in Northern India was totally obliterated: that is, from other side of the Na'ra'yanii-Gand'haka or on the Shon river, the Aryan influence became altogether extinct. But in the Bhojpur area the Aryan and Austrik influence was fully retained. The Mongolian influence was minimal.

From the economic point of view the soil of this area is extremely fertile, but the local people are very poor. The people are industrious, and the soil is fertile, but the local people are extremely poor. What is the reason? Because there is tremendous exploitation in the area. Nowadays education is being developed, and the task of the educated boys and girls of this area is to free their land from exploitation as soon as possible. The land is not poor -- only the people are poor. If the land is not poor, why should the people be poor? There should not be poverty among the people at all in this area. So it is your bounden duty to make this beautiful fertile land free from exploitation.