Bihari Languages

Bihari Languages

Bihari is a name given to the western group of Eastern Indic languages, spoken in Bihar and neighboring states in India. Angika, Bajjika, Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Maithili are spoken in Nepal as well. The Angika, Bajjika, Bhojpuri, Magahi and Maithili speaking population form more than 21% of Nepalese population. Despite the large number of speakers of these languages, they have not been constitutionally recognized in India. This is with the exception of Maithili, which gained constitutional status vide the 92nd amendment to the Constitution of India in 2003. Even in Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters. These languages were legally absorbed under the overarching label of HINDI in the 1961 Census. Such state and national politics are creating conditions for language endangerments. Nalanda Open University offers various courses on Bihari Languages (Magahi, Bhojpuri, Maithili). After independence Hindi was given the sole official status through the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950. Hindi was displaced as the sole official language of Bihar in 1981, when Urdu was accorded the status of the second official language. In this struggle between Hindi and Urdu, the claims of the three large mother tongues of the region – Magahi, Bhojpuri and Maithili were ignored.