Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

is one of the official languages in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. Although Hindustani is the lingua-franca of the region, the majority of the people natively speak one of the

Bihari languages Bihari languages are a group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The Bihari languages are mainly spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, and also in Nepal.Brass, Paul R. (1974). ''Language, Religion and Politi ...

Hindi journalism

''Biharbandhu'' was the first

newspaper published from Bihar. It was started in 1872 by Keshav Ram Bhatta, a Maharashtrian

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' (; IAST: ''Brahman'') connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality of the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII In the ...

settled in Biharsharif.Ahmad Qeyamuddin, ''Patna Through the ages: Glimpses of History, Society and Economy, Commonwealth Publishers'', New Delhi, 1988

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

in Bihar, and specially

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

, could make little headway initially. It was mainly due to lack of respect for

among the people at large. Many

journals took birth and after a lapse of time vanished. Many journals were shelved even in the

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

nic state. But once

enlisted the

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

support, it started making a dent into the remote areas in Bihar.

also acquired wisdom and maturity and its longevity was prolonged.

was introduced in the law courts in Bihar in 1880.

20th-century publications

The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by a number of notable new publications. A monthly magazine named ''Bharat Ratna'' was started from

in 1901. It was followed by ''Kshtriya Hitaishi'', ''Aryavarta'' from Dinapure,

, ''Udyoga'' and ''Chaitanya Chandrika''. ''Udyog'' was edited by Vijyaanand Tripathy, a famous poet of the time and ''Chaitanya Chandrika'' by Krishna Chaitanya Goswami, a literary figures of that time. This literary activities were not confined to

alone but to many districts of Bihar.

Constitutional issues

Despite the large number of speakers of

, these languages, except Maithili (which is recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India), have not been constitutionally recognised in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

is the language used for educational and official matters in Bihar, with English occasionally used in education and government. These languages was legally absorbed under the subordinate label of

in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerments.

Struggle between languages

The first success for spreading

Modern Standard Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of the Government of India, alongside English, and is the ' ...

occurred in Bihar in 1881, when Hindi displaced

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

as the sole official standard of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

. In this struggle between competing Hindi and Urdu standards of the

Hindustani language Hindustani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in North India and Pakistan as the lingua franca of the region. It is also spoken by the Deccani people, Deccani-speaking community in the Deccan plateau. Hindustani is a pluricentric language w ...

, the potential claims of the three large mother tongues in the region

Magahi Magahi (), also known as Magadhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai region of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name de ...

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

and Maithili were ignored. After independence,

was again given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950.Brass Paul R., ''The Politics of India Since Independence'', Cambridge University Press, p. 183.

became the second official language in the undivided State of Bihar on 16 August 1989. Maithili was officially recognised by the government of India in 2003, after an active movement led by Maithili speakers. Proponents have called

, Angika and Bajjika to receive the same status.

Statistics

The number of speakers of

are difficult to indicate because of unreliable sources. In the urban region most educated speakers of the language name

as their language because this is what they speak at home and use in formal contexts. The uneducated and the rural population of the region return

as their language.Jain Dhanesh, Cardona George, The Indo-Aryan Languages, pp500, "..the number of speakers of Bihari languages are difficult to indicate because of unreliable sources. In the urban region most educated speakers of the language name Hindi as their language because this is what they use in formal contexts and believe it to be the appropriate response because of unawareness. The uneducated and the rural population of the region return Hindi as the generic name for their language."

References and footnotes