Gaddi (also called Gaddki, Gaddiyali or Bharmauri;

Takri The Tākri script (Takri (Chamba district, Chamba): ; Takri (Jammu Division, Jammu/Dogri script, Dogra): ; sometimes called Tankri ) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic scripts, Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada ...

: ) is an

Indo-Aryan language The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Ba ...

of India. It is spoken by the Gaddi people primarily residing in the Bharmour region of

Chamba district Chamba district is the northwestern district of Himachal Pradesh, in India, with its headquarters in Chamba town. The towns of Dalhousie, Khajjhiar and Churah Valley are popular hill stations and vacation spots for the people from the plains ...

and the upper reaches of

Kangra district Kangra district is the most populous district of Himachal Pradesh, India. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having one of the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch of ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. It is also spoken in neighbouring parts of

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

, with Gaddi villages found in Udhampur, Kathua and Doda districts.The language has traditionally been written using the

Takri script The Tākri script (Takri ( Chamba): ; Takri (Jammu/Dogra): ; sometimes called Tankri ) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is derived from the Sharada script formerly employed for Kashmiri. It is the sister scrip ...

Dialects

There are four dialects of the language: *The first one is spoken in the entire Bharmaur, Chhatrari and Bhatyat Tehsils of Chamba and Gaddi speaking regions of Kangra district. *The second one is spoken in consists of Piyuhar, Belaj, Guun, Bakani, the upper part of Mehla and Kaded, etc. *The third one is spoken in the region of Basu and other adjoining area. *The fourth one is spoken in Lilh and Paho.

Status

The language is commonly called Pahari or Himachali. Some speakers may even call it a dialect of Dogri. The language has no official status. According to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the language is definitely endangered category, i.e. many Gaddi chilanother adjoining areag Gaddi as their mother tongue any longer. The demand for the inclusion of 'Pahari (Himachali)' under the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which is supposed to represent multiple Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, had been made in the year 2010 by the state's Vidhan Sabha. There has been no positive progress on this matter since then even when small organisations are striving to save the language.

References

External links

Gaddi grammar sketches
{{Languages of Jammu and Kashmir Northern Indo-Aryan languages Languages of Himachal Pradesh Languages of Jammu and Kashmir Languages written in Devanagari Languages listed as Hindi dialects in latest census