Bundeli (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...

: बुन्देली or बुंदेली; or Bundelkhandi) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the

Bundelkhand Bundelkhand (, ) is a geographical and cultural region and a proposed state and also a mountain range in central & North India. The hilly region is now divided between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with the larger portion lying ...

region of central

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It belongs to the Central Indo-Ayran languages and is part of the

Western Hindi The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of th ...

subgroup.

Classification

A descendant of the Sauraseni Apabhramsha language, Bundeli was classified under

by George Abraham Grierson in his Linguistic Survey of India. Bundeli is also closely related to Braj Bhasha, which was the foremost literary language in north-central India until the nineteenth century. Like many other

Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pa ...

, Bundeli has often been subject to a designation as a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...

, instead of a

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

. Furthermore, as is the case with other Hindi languages, Bundeli speakers have been conflated with those of

Standard Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has bee ...

in censuses. Grierson divided Bundeli into four dialect groups: * Standard Bundeli * Northeast Bundeli (closely related to Bagheli) * Northwest Bundeli (similar to Braj Bhasha) * South Bundeli

Geographical distribution

The

region comprises regions of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...

. Bundeli is spoken in the

Banda Banda may refer to: People *Banda (surname) *Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician *Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor *Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician *Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh warr ...

, Hamirpur, Jalaun,

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative ...

, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Mahoba,

Datia Datia is the district headquarter of the Datia District in north central Madhya Pradesh,a state of Central India. It is an ancient town, mentioned in the Mahabharata ruled by King Dantavakra. The city is 78 km from Gwalior, 325&nb ...

, Chhatarpur,

Panna Panna can refer to: * Paññā is Pali for "wisdom"; the Sanskrit version is ''Prajñā'' Food * Aam panna, an Indian drink made from mangoes * Panna cotta ("cooked cream"), an Italian dessert * Panna (water), an Italian bottled water Places * ...

, Tikamgarh, Sagar, Damoh, Niwari districts.

History

Early examples of Bundelkhandi literature are the verses of the

Alha-Khand The term ''Alha Khand'' is used to refer to poetic works in Hindi which consists of a number of ballads describing the brave acts of two 12th century Banaphar heroes, Alha and Udal, generals working for king Paramardi-Deva (Parmal) of Mahob ...

epic. It is still preserved by bards in the Banaphari region. The epic is about heroes who lived in the 12th century CE. Formal literary works in Bundeli dates from the reign of Emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...

. Notable figures are the poet

Kesab Das Keshavdas Mishra (1555–1617), usually known by the mononym Keshavdas or Keshavadasa, was a Sanskrit scholar and Hindi poet, best known for his ''Rasik Priya'', a pioneering work of the ''riti kaal'' (procedure period) of Hindi literature. Li ...

of the 16th century, while Padmakar Bhatt and Prajnes wrote several works during the 19th century. Prannath and Lal Kabi, produced many works in Bundeli language at the court of Chhatrasal of Panna.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * *Bundelkhand NEW
Learn Bundelkhandi on Bundelkhanddarshan.com

www.bundelkhand.com

{{Authority control Hindi languages Languages of India Languages of Madhya Pradesh Languages of Uttar Pradesh Bundelkhand