Product Code Database
Awadhi, also known as Audhi, is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh in northern India and in Terai of western Nepal. The name Awadh is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city, which is regarded as the homeland of the Hinduism deity Rama, the earthly avatar of Vishnu. Awadhi is also widely spoken by the diaspora of Indians descended from those who left as indentured labourers during the colonial era. Along with Braj Bhasha, it was used widely as a literary vehicle before being displaced by Hindi in the 19th century. Though distinct from standard Hindi, it continues to be spoken today in its unique form in many districts of central and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The Indian government considers Awadhi to be a greater mother-tongue grouped under Eastern Hindi languages. Standard Hindi serves as the lingua franca of the region; Hindi, rather than Awadhi, is used for school instruction as well as administrative and official purposes and its literature falls within the scope of Hindi literature.- A vast central portion of the subcontinent, consisting of the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, plus the Union Territory of Delhi, is known as the "HINDI area", because the official and general written language, that is to say, that of administration, press, school instruction, and modern literature, is Hindi, sometimes called MODERN STANDARD HINDI, and the whole area is heir to the "Hindi literary tradition" – Hindi being used here in a different and wider sense, to refer to pre-modern literature in Braj and Awadhi, and often to those languages proper to Rajasthan and Bihar as well Some of the most culturally significant works in Indian literature like the Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa have been written in Awadhi.
Alternative names of Awadhi include Baiswāri (after the subregion of Baiswara), as well as the sometimes ambiguous Pūrbī, literally meaning "eastern", and Kōsalī (named after the ancient Kosala).
The following districts of North and Central UP speak Awadhi-
The closest relative of Awadhi is the Bagheli language as genealogically both descend from the same 'Ardha-Magadhi'. Most early Indian linguists regarded Bagheli merely as 'the southern form of Awadhi', but recent studies accept Bagheli as a separate dialect at par with Awadhi and not merely a sub-dialect of it.
Tulsidas's compositions Hanuman Chalisa,Paramahamsa Sri Swami Vishwananda (2018). 9783963430152, BoD – Books on Demand. . ISBN 9783963430152 Pārvatī Maṅgala and Jānakī Maṅgala are also written in Awadhi.
The first Hindi vernacular adaptation of the 'Dasam Skandha' of the Bhagavata Purana, the "Haricharit" by Lalachdas, who hailed from Hastigram (present-day Hathgaon near Rae Bareilly), was concluded in 1530 C.E. It circulated widely for a long time and scores of manuscript copies of the text have been found as far as eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Malwa and Gujarat, all written in the Kaithi script.—"That Brahmin kathavachaks were not the only tellers of the story is proved by the first Hindi vernacular adaptation of the Dasam Skandha, the Haricharit in the Chaupai Doha by Lalach Kavi, a Kayastha from "Hastigram" (present-day Hathgaon) near Rae Bareilly, concluded in 1530 (VS1587)."
Satyavatī (ca. 1501) of Ishvaradas (of Delhi) under the reign of Sikandar Lodi and Avadhabilāsa (1700 C.E.) of Laladas were also written in Awadhi.
Awadhi appeared as a major component in the works of Bhakti saints like Kabir, who used a language often described as being a pancmel khicṛī or "a hotch-potch" of several vernaculars.–The first editor of the Kabir Granthavali, S.S Das, also stresses the composite character of Kabir's language, giving examples in his introduction, of vanis composed in Khariboli (i.e. Standard Hindi), Rajasthani, and Panjabi, besides Awadhi.–Among the dialects or languages "melted" in the Hindavi language, the most important is Avadhi, mentioned above. The language of Kabir himself an Easterner, retains old Eastern forms, especially the old Avadhi forms. The language of Kabir's major work Bijak is primarily Awadhi.–Chaturvedi has shown that the same pada may be found with more characteristic Avadhi forms in the Bijak, with more Khari-boli in the Guru Granth and with Braj forms in the Kabir Granthavali.–According to Grierson, however, there is not a single word typical of the Bhojpuri language in the Bijak. According to him, the basic language of the Bijak is old Avadhi...
Other prominent works of Jayasi such as Kānhāvat, Akhrāvaṭ and Ākhrī Kalām are also written in Awadhi.
The Awadhi romance Mirigāvatī (ca.1503) or "The Magic Doe", was written by Shaikh 'Qutban' Suhravardi, who was an expert and storyteller attached to the court-in-exile of Sultan Hussain Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur district. Another romance named Madhumalati or "Night Flowering Jasmine" by poet Sayyid Manjhan Rajgiri was written in 1545 C.E. —"Manjhan's birthplace Rajgir is in the present-day state of Bihar, not far away from Patna in northern India, and the poem itself is written in Awadhi or eastern Hindavi".
Amir Khusrau (d. 1379 C.E) is also said to have written some compositions in Awadhi.
‘Krishnayan’ (1942 C.E.) is a major Awadhi epic-poem that Dwarka Prasad Mishra wrote in imprisonment during the Freedom Movement of India. In 2022 Dr. Vidya Vindu Singh has been awarded Padma Shri for her contribution in Awadhi literature.
| +Diphthongs ! rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Combination ! colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Example ! rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Meaning |
| /ɪaː/ | /d͡ʒɪaː/ | jiā | "elder sister" |
| /ɪeː/ | /d͡ʒɪeː/ | jiē | "became alive" |
| /ʌiː/ | /nʌiː/ | naī | "new" |
| /ʌɪ/ | /bʰʌɪ/ | bhai | "became" |
| /ʌeː/ | /gʌeː/ | gaē | "(they) went" |
| /ʌʊ/ | /t̪ʌʊ/ | tau | "then" |
| /ʌuː/ | /gʌuː/ | gaū | "cow" |
| /ʊʌ/ | /kʊ̃ʌn/ | kũan | "wells (obl.)" |
| /ʊiː/ | /d̪ʊiː/ | duī | "two" |
| /ʊaː/ | /bʊaː/ | buā | "father's sister" |
| /uːiː/ | /ruːiː/ | rūī | "cotton" |
| /aːoː/ | /aːoː/ | āō | "come" |
| /aːeː/ | /kʰaːeː/ | khāē | "eaten" |
| /aːiː/ | /aːiː/ | āī | "came" |
| /aːuː/ | /naːuː/ | nāū | "barber" |
| /eːiː/ | /d̪eːiː/ | dēī | "will give" |
| /eːʊ/ | /d̪eːʊ/ | dēu | "give" |
| /oːɪ/ | /hoːɪ/ | hōi | "may be" |
| /oʊ/ | /hoʊ/ | hōu | "be" |
| +Triphthongs ! rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Combination ! colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Example ! rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Meaning |
| /ɪeʊ/ | /pɪeʊ/ | pieu | "(you) drank" |
| /ʊɪaː/ | /gʰʊ̃ɪaː/ | ghũiā | "the root of Arum" |
| /aːeʊ/ | /kʰaːeʊ/ | khāeu | "(you) ate" |
| /ʌɪaː/ | /bʰʌɪaː/ | bhaiā | "brother" |
| +Consonant Phonemes of Awadhi Language ! colspan="3" | !Bilabial
!Dental consonant/ Alveolar !Retroflex !Palatal !Velar consonant !Glottal |
Another defining characteristic of Awadhi is the affix /-ɪs/ as in /dɪɦɪs/, /maːɾɪs/ etc. The neighbouring Bhojpuri has the distinctive (i) /laː/ enclitic in present tense (ii) /-l/ in past tense (iii) dative postposition /-laː/ which separates it from the Awadhi language.
| +First Person Pronouns of Awadhi ! ! colspan="5" | Singular 'I/me/my' ! colspan="5" | Plural 'we/us/our' |
| +Second Person Pronouns of Awadhi ! ! colspan="6" | Singular ! colspan="6"Plural |
Affixation
An affix is used to alter the meaning or form of a word. It can be either a prefix or a suffix.
Compounding
Two or more stems are combined to form one stem.
Reduplication
This process involves the repetition of certain forms. It may be complete, partial, or interrupted.
The Awadhi folk song "Mere Angne Mein Tumhara Kya Kaam Hai" has become popular in Bollywood with a neutralised version of it being in the 1981 film Laawaris starring Amitabh Bachchan, as well as being in the 1970 film Bombay Talkie and the 1975 film Maze Le Lo, it was also released as a single by Neha Kakkar in 2020. Another Awadhi folk song that became popular through Bollywood was "Holi Khele Raghuveera", which was neutralised and sung by Amitabh Bachchan and put into the 2003 film Baghban starring Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini.
The 1982 movie Nadiya Ke Paar was in Awadhi (the 1994 remake by the same director, ''Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, was in Hindi.)
The following examples were taken from Baburam Saxena's Evolution of Awadhi, and alternative versions are also provided to show dialectal variations.
| Who were there? | हुआँ को (कउन) रहें? | |
| alt. | alt. हुआँ के/कउन रहेन? | |
| This boy is fine in seeing and hearing. | इउ लरिका देखई सुनई म ठीक है। | |
| alt. | alt. इ लरिका देखई सुनई म ठीक अहै। | |
| (She) said, let (me) eat a little and give a little to this one too. | कहिन, लाओ थोड़ा खाई लेई, थोड़ा यहु का दै देई। | |
| alt. | alt. कहिन, ल्याव थोड़ा खाई लेई, रचि के एन्हुं के दै देई। | |
| Those who go will be beaten. | जो जइहैं सो मारउ खइहैं। | |
| alt. | alt. जे जइहैं सो मार खइहैं। | |
| Do not shoot at the birds. | चिरइयन पर छर्रा न चलाओ। | |
| alt. | alt. चिरइयन पे छर्रा जिन चलाव। |
|
|
