Bundeli (Devanagari: बुन्देली/बुंदेली) or Bundelkhandi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Bundelkhand region of central India. It belongs to the Central Indo-Aryan languages and is part of the Western Hindi subgroup.
Classification
A descendant of the
Sauraseni Apabhramsha language, Bundeli was classified under
Western Hindi by George Abraham Grierson in his Linguistic Survey of India.
Bundeli is also closely related to
Braj Bhasha, which was the foremost literary language in north-central India until the nineteenth century.
Like many other Indo-Aryan languages, Bundeli has often been subject to a designation as a dialect, instead of a language. Furthermore, as is the case with other Hindi languages, Bundeli speakers have been conflated with those of Hindi in censuses.
Grierson divided Bundeli into four dialect groups:
-
Standard Bundeli, Bundeli, language of Tikamgarh, Lalitpur etc.
-
Northeaster Bundeli (closely related to Bagheli)
-
Northwester Bundeli (similar to Braj Bhasha)
-
Southern Bundeli (mixed or broken Bundeli with slight influences from Marathi language)
Geographical distribution
The
Bundelkhand region comprises regions of
Uttar Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh. Bundeli is spoken in the Banda, Hamirpur,
Jalaun district,
Jhansi district, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot,
Mahoba district,
Datia district, Chhatarpur,
Panna district, Tikamgarh,
Sagar district,
Damoh District,
Niwari District districts.
History
Early examples of Bundelkhandi literature are the verses of the
Alha-Khand epic. It is still preserved by bards in the Banaphari region. The epic is about heroes who lived in the 12th century CE. Formal literary works in Bundeli dates from the reign of Emperor
Akbar. Notable figures are the poet
Kesab Das of the 16th century, while
Padmakar and Prajnes wrote several works during the 19th century. Prannath and Lal Kabi, produced many works in Bundeli language at the court of
Chhatrasal of Panna.
Bibliography
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