Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of

Shauraseni Prakrit Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, though ...

mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh.

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 been de ...

and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its Dehlavi dialect( Old Hindi), becoming the Hindustani language of the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. Hindustani gained prestige when it was accepted along with Persian as a language of the court, before that it was only a sociolect of the ruling classes and a language the Persianate states spoke to their subjects in. Modern Kauravi contains some features, such as gemination, which give it a distinctive sound and differentiates it from Braj, Awadhi and

Hindustani Hindustani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India) * Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, whose two official norms are Hindi and Urdu * Fiji Hindi, a variety of Eastern Hindi spoken in Fiji, and ...

. An early form of Kauravi became the main basis of Old Hindi, which subsequently developed into

and then into Hindi and Urdu.

Geographical distribution

Khariboli is spoken in the rural surroundings of Delhi and northwestern Uttar Pradesh, as well as in some neighbouring areas of Haryana and Uttarakhand. The geography of this part of North India is traditionally described as '' doabs''. In Haryana, the following districts are Khari-speaking: *

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Pura ...

* Ambala * Yamunanagar * Panchkula *Northern half of Faridabad *Eastern parts of Karnal, Sonepat,

Panipat Panipat () is a historic city in Haryana, India. It is 95 km north of Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on List of National Highways in India, NH-1. The three major battles fought in First Battle of Panipat, 1526, Second Battle of ...

In Uttar Pradesh, the following districts of the Yamuna- Ganges ''doab'' are Khari-speaking: *

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared as on ...

* Muzaffarnagar * Shamli * Baghpat * Meerut * Ghaziabad * Hapur * Bulandshahr * Gautam Buddha Nagar In the trans- Ganges area, it is spoken in the following districts of

Rohilkhand Rohilkhand (previously Rampur State) is a region in the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, India, that is centered on the Rampur, Bareilly and Moradabad divisions. It is part of the upper Ganges Plain, and is named after the Rohilla tribe. Th ...

region in Uttar Pradesh: * Moradabad * Rampur * Sambhal * Bareilly *

Badaun Budaun is commonly pronounced Badayun is a city and a seat of Budaun district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located near the Ganges river in the centre of Western Uttar Pradesh. Budaun was the capital of Delhi Sultanate for four years from 1210 ...

* Amroha *

Bijnor Bijnor is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, IndiaUttarakhand, the following districts of the Yamuna- Ganges ''doab'' are partially Khari-speaking: * Haridwar *

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

In the trans- Ganges area, it is partially spoken in the following districts of Uttarakhand: * Nainital only in Terai region which has significant population of immigrants from Uttar Pradesh. *

Udham Singh Nagar Udham Singh Nagar District (officially District of Udham Singh Nagar )is a district of Uttarakhand state in northern India. Rudrapur is the district headquarters. This district consists of nine Tehsils named Bajpur, Gadarpur, Rudrapur, Jaspu ...

Khariboli in Hindustani popular culture

Khariboli is often seen as rustic by speakers of Standard Hindustani, and elements of it were used in '' Hum Log'', India's first television soap opera, where the main family was depicted as having roots in Western Uttar Pradesh. As the two main Hindustani dialects of Western Uttar Pradesh and the areas surrounding Delhi, Khariboli and

Braj Bhasha The Braj language, ''Braj Bhasha'', also known as Vraj Bhasha or Vrij Bhasha or Braj Bhāṣā or Braji or Brij Bhasha or Braj Boli, is a Western Hindi language. Along with Awadhi (a variety of Eastern Hindi), it was one of the two predominant ...

are often compared. One hypothesis of how Khariboli came to be described as (standing) asserts that it refers to the "''stiff and rustic uncouthness''" of the dialect compared to the "''mellifluousness and soft fluency''" of Braj Bhasha. On the other hand, Khariboli supporters sometimes pejoratively referred to Braj Bhasha and other dialects as "''Pariboli''" ( hi, पड़ी बोली, ur, , lit=fallen/supine dialects).

Kauravi and Sankrityayan's proposal

Although most linguists acknowledge that Modern Standard Hindustani descended from Khariboli, the precise mechanism of dialectical changes from Khari to the prestige dialect (such as the loss of gemination which is so prevalent in Khari) lacks consensus. There are also variations within Khari itself across the area in which it is spoken. In the mid-twentieth century, Indian scholar and nationalist, Rahul Sankrityayan, proposed a redrawing of the linguistic map of the Hindustani zone. Drawing a distinction between the Khari of Delhi and the Khari of the extreme western parts of Western Uttar Pradesh, he advocated that the former retain the name ''Khariboli'' while the latter be renamed to ''Kauravi'', after the Kuru Kingdom of ancient India. Although the term ''Khariboli'' continues to be applied as it traditionally was, some linguists have accepted the term ''Kauravi'' as well, applying to the language spoken in the linguistic arc running from Saharanpur to Agra (i.e. the close east and north east of Delhi). Sankrityayan postulated that this ''Kaurvi'' dialect was the parent of Delhi's specific Khari dialect. Sankrityayan had also advocated that all Hindustani be standardised on the Devanagari script and Perso-Arabic entirely be abandoned.

Other dialects of Hindustani

Khariboli is related to four registers of

, the lingua franca of northern India and Pakistan: Standard Hindi, Standard Urdu, Dakhini and Rekhta. Standard Hindi (also High Hindi, Manak Hindi) is the language of government and is one of the official languages of India, Standard Urdu is the state language and national language of Pakistan, Dakhini is the historical literary dialect of the Deccan region, and Rekhta the "mixed" Hindustani of medieval poetry. These registers, together with Sansiboli, form the Hindustani dialect group. This group, together with Haryanvi,

, Kanauji and

Bundeli Bundeli ( Devanagari: बुन्देली or बुंदेली; or Bundelkhandi) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Bundelkhand region of central India. It belongs to the Central Indo-Ayran languages and is part of the Western ...

, forms the Western dialect set of Hindi languages.

Early influences

The area around Delhi has long been the center of power in northern India, and naturally, the ''Khari Boli'' dialect came to be regarded as urbane and of a higher standard than the other dialects of Hindi. This view gradually gained ground over the 19th century; before that period, other dialects such as Awadhi,

and

Sadhukaddi Sadhukkadi (सधुक्कड़ी ) was a vernacular dialect of the Hindi Belt of medieval North India, and a mix of Hindi languages ( Hindustani, Haryanvi, Braj Bhasha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Marwari) and Punjabi, hence it is also commonly c ...

were the dialects preferred by littérateurs. Standard Hindustani first developed with the migration of Persian Khari Boli speakers from Delhi to the Awadh region—most notably Amir Khusro, mixing the 'roughness' of Khari Boli with the relative 'softness' of Awadhi to form a new language which they called "Hindavi." This also became referred to as Hindustani, which subsequently diverged into Hindi and Urdu. Although as a dialect, Khari Boli belongs to the Upper Doab, "Hindavi" developed in the cultural spheres of

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

and Varanasi.

Rise as the basis for Standard Hindustani

The earliest examples of Khariboli can be seen in the compositions of Amir Khusro (1253–1325). Before the rise of Khariboli, the literary dialects of Hindi were the ones adopted by the Bhakti saints:

( Krishna devotees), Awadhi (adopted by the Rama devotees) and Maithili ( Vaishnavites of Bihar). However, after the Bhakti movement became ritualistic, these languages came to be regarded as rural and unrefined. Khariboli, on the other hand, was spoken in the urban area surrounding the Mughal courts, where Persian was the official language. The Persian-influenced Khariboli thus gradually came to be regarded as a prestige dialect, although hardly any literary works had been written in Khariboli before the British period in India. The British administrators of India and the Christian missionaries played an important role in creation and promotion of the Khariboli-based Modern Standard Hindustani. In 1800, the British East India Company established a college of higher education at Calcutta named the Fort William College.

John Borthwick Gilchrist John Borthwick Gilchrist (19 June 1759 – 9 January 1841) was a Scottish surgeon, linguist, philologist and Indologist. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent most of his early career in India, where he made a study of the local languages. I ...

, a president of that college, encouraged his professors to write in their native tongue; some of the works thus produced were in the literary form of the Khariboli dialect. These books included ''Premsagar'' by

Lallu Lal Lallu Lal (1763–1835) was an academic, author and translator from British India. He was an instructor in the Hindustani language at Fort William College in Hastings, Calcutta. He is notable for ''Prem Sagar'', the first work in modern literary ...

, ''Nasiketopakhyan'' by Sadal Mishra; ''Sukhsagar'' by Sadasukh Lal of Delhi and ''Rani Ketaki Ki Kahani'' by Inshallah Khan. More developed forms of Khariboli can also be seen in some mediocre literature produced in the early 18th century. Examples are ''Chand Chhand Varnan Ki Mahima'' by Ganga Bhatt, ''Yogavashishtha'' by Ram Prasad Niranjani, ''Gora Badal Ki katha'' by Jatmal, ''Mandovar Ka Varnan'' by Anonymous, a translation of Ravishenacharya's ''Jain Padmapuran'' by Daulat Ram (dated 1761). With the government patronage and the literary popularity, the Khariboli flourished, even as the use of previously more literary tongues such as Awadhi, Braj and Maithili declined in the literary vehicles. The literary works in Khariboli gained momentum from the second half of the 19th century onwards. A prominent Indian historian Raja Sivaprasad was a promoter of the Hindi language, in particular the Khariboli version. Gradually, in the subsequent years, Khariboli became the basis for standard Hindustani, which began to be taught in schools and used in government functions. Urdu, the heavily Persianised version of Khariboli, replaced Persian as the official language of local administration in North India in the early 19th century. However, the association of Urdu with the Muslims prompted Hindus to develop their own Sanskritised version of the dialect, leading to the formation of Modern Standard Hindi. After India became independent in 1947, the Khariboli-based dialect was officially recognised as the approved version of the Hindi language, which was declared as one of the official languages for central government functioning.

References

{{Central Indo-Aryan languages Hindi languages

Indian words and phrases