Languages of Bihar

Languages of Bihar

Bihar is renowned for its history and rich cultural heritage. Language has played a very vital role in shaping its identity. The major languages spoken in Bihar are Hindi, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Surajpuri, Vajjika etc. These languages are collectively referred as Bihari language. Hindi is its official language and is spoken as the main language of contact in the region. And Urdu is its second official language widely used in government gazettes. But the mainland of Bihar is dominated by two offshoots of Hindi language i.e. Bhojpuri and Maithili.

Bhojpuri is mainly spoken in western part of Bihar, north-eastern part of Jharkhand and Purvanchal region of U.P. About 150 million people who include 15% population of the region speak Bhojpuri. Bhojpuri is categorized in Indo Aryan branch of languages. The language follows Devanagari and Kaithi script in writing. It shares its major parts of vocabulary with Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and other Indo Aryan languages. Bhikhari Thakur is one of the most erudite scholars of the language.

Another important language widely spoken in Bihar is Maithili. It also falls in the branch of Indo Aryan language, a branch of Indo European origin. It is extensively spoken in the northern part of Bihar and Terai region of Nepal. Earlier Maithili was considered as a dialect of Hindi but in 2003 it was officially granted the status of independent language and is included in the eleventh scheduled of Indian Constitution. About more than 45 million people in Bihar speak Maithili. This includes approximately 14.26% of Bihar population. The main region where this language is spoken is around Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur etc. The language is written in Devanagari and Tirhuta or Mithilakshar script. Maithili language has its rich literature also. Mahakavi Vidyapati is a famous exponent of Mithilanchal. His works are seminal not only in this region but also popular in other Hindi speaking regions of India.

There are many other local dialects spoken in Bihar. They share each others vocabularies and diction and have flourished here from the ancient time.